Hatred
by Sehrezad
Summary: Following a series of hate crimes, mixed-raced couples are murdered in Columbia. The team travels to the city to help while the case hits too close to home for two of the agents. Can they find the murderer before another couple has to die?
1. Chapter 1

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything connecting to this show._

_Summary: Following a series of hate crimes, mixed-raced couples are murdered in Columbia. The team travels to the city to help while the case hits too close to home for two of the agents. Can they find the murderer before another couple has to die?_

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"_There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too. Where's evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side. It's that part of every man that finds all lands of ugliness so attractive."_ (Kurt Vonnegut)

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_Chapter 1_

The tires of the black SUV were screeching on the asphalt as Special Agent Aaron Hotchner took the turn by the traffic lamps. The cars in front of him hurriedly pulled out of his way as he pushed the gas even harder… and Reid next to him held the handrail even tighter.

They didn't have even a second to waste…

They didn't have time for any hesitation…

They had to get that son of a bitch… and they had to save her.

Hardly had he stopped the car in front of the UnSub's house, when he jumped out of it closely followed by Reid. He faintly heard the other SUV pull up behind him and he heard dogs barking. But it all faded into the background. His mind was somewhere else.

He knew that it was wrong. He knew that he should pay attention to the SWAT team as they took up their position around the house ready to attack… He knew that he should tell Reid to follow him and that he should tell his other two agents to go to the other side of the house… But they all knew what they had to do.

He couldn't help thinking about the woman whom they came to rescue… one of their own… and only God knows if they would find her alive… If they would find her at all.

They had to catch that bastard.

He knew, too, that he shouldn't be a part of this operation… probably neither of them should… But he had to… and so did the others.

As he stood by the door with his gun drawn and ready to raid the house, he sent up a quick prayer for their friend inside the house… and for their friend who was lying in the hospital waiting for the woman to return…

**TBC**

_Well, what shall I say? There is more to come if you are interested…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hatred**

_Hey there! Thank you for your reviews! They really made my day and they made me post this chapter faster than I had originally planned. But before you read it, please keep in mind that this is my very first story which actually deals with a real case. I don't know how it'll turn out but I hope it won't be too bad. In any case, just bear with me if I happen to write things which don't really make any sense or are confusing. I'm just warming up to the topic. And this is the reason why I'm asking you __to send me your opinions, it'll help me write something that hopefully everybody will enjoy._

_And yes, there will be Morgan/Prentiss pairing in this story. I hope you don't mind but I love them.  
_

_Thank you!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything connecting to this show._

_Chapter 2_

_About 43 Hours Earlier_

It was a beautiful early morning in the spring and Emily enjoyed lying in bed covered only by a sheet. But it wasn't the warm sun warming her face through the window which made her completely and utterly relaxed and content. No. It was the man whose shoulder now served her as a pillow and whose arms were wrapped tightly around her. That and the fact that they would have a whole day together. Without work. Just the two of them…

Her sleepy musing was interrupted and suddenly she found herself pinned to the mattress.

"Morning, Sunshine!" Her lover said then kissed her gently on the lips and continued kissing her down her jaw line.

She smiled sleepily but was unwilling to open her eyes just yet.

"Come on, Derek! I want to sleep." She whined rather unconvincingly. Morgan could actually hear her smiling. He lifted up his head and looked down at the woman who still refused to open her eyes.

"And where is my usual morning greeting?" He asked with humor in his voice. Usually Emily was the first up in the morning demanding attention from him.

"Well, I will greet you when I wake up." She stated which was followed by a yawn during which she pulled her hands above her head to stretch. That was the moment when she opened her eyes. She blinked once or twice then brought her arms around him, lifted her head and kissed him deeply.

Now Morgan was the one who suddenly found himself on his back with a smugly looking Emily making herself comfortable in his arms.

"Now go back to sleep!" She commanded as she snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes once again.

"No way, Em. Come on! I'm wide awake."

"That's your problem. Find something to do! Just don't leave the bed." She was determined to sleep some more… and to sleep some more in Morgan's arms.

"And what the hell should I do exactly?"

"Don't know. Use your imagination!"

"I was just trying to do that!" Morgan exclaimed indignantly. Emily couldn't help chuckling at this.

"You've got such a dirty mind, Derek Mo… oh!

And again she was lying on her back.

"Let me show you just how dirty my mind is." He replied seductively his lips only millimeters from hers.

"Alright." She relented finally. "But it'd better be a lot more enjoyable than sleeping in on my day off."

Morgan didn't say anything to that just began kissing her…

… that was when Emily's phone began to ring.

They let out a collective 'damn'. It meant only one thing: work.

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"Let's get started!" Hotch spoke up when finally everybody arrived to the conference room.

Apparently the whole team was expecting a relaxing day as far away from the Bureau as possible and now every single one of them was quite grumpy because of the sudden interruption. Even more so because they couldn't even sleep in due to this sudden interruption. And it definitely had the first place on the to-do list of all of them.

"Alright." JJ began. "The Columbia police in South Carolina requested our help. In the last six months the number of hate crimes had significantly increased. African-Americans were found hanged, stabbed or whipped to death."

"Men and women from various age-groups. There is not much consistency among the victims other than their race." Rossi mused going over his case file.

"So why do they need us? These are typical hate crimes." Emily quickly added looking up from her file. "There is not much we can do here. Don't take me amiss but a profile will hardly help those people. Most probably they are separate cases and the police are looking for several individuals. Not to mention that most of them must have a rap-sheet by now. They should be able to deal with this." Which meant that they could all go home.

"I have to agree." Reid concurred. "Hate crime offenders are usually acting in the spur of the moment. They are most definitely liable to repeat their actions but they are not serial killers." Here he stopped for a moment as if contemplating something then turned to Emily. "Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, only 0.3 % of the assaults ends in murder…"

"So…" Emily began slowly. "You are saying that we do have a serial killer here." _Damn._

"Yes. That is a logical conclusion. Statistically, at least." Reid concluded and Emily nodded convinced.

"There is more." JJ continued her presentation as four pictures appeared on the screen. "These women turned up dead in the last two weeks and she…" Another picture popped up. "She went missing two days ago."

There was a moment of complete silence in the room.

"They are white." Emily stated the obvious, however, everybody else seemed confused.

"Yep."

That was the moment when finally Morgan spoke up, too.

"Right, so till that psychopath is killing black people, the local police think that they have all the time in the world to catch that bastard but as soon as white women begin to disappear the case suddenly needs to be solved as soon as possible." Morgan seemed enraged to say the least. He always hated when law enforcement had priority in particular cases and he hated even more when it was because of racial issues. "That's just great!" With that he stood up and stormed out of the room.

"And what the hell was that?" Rossi asked no one in particular. For the excellent profilers they were, they completely missed the effect that the new case had already had on their colleague. Emily, for a moment, contemplated to go after him but finally decided against it. If Hotch hadn't said anything about his fellow agent's outburst, which he hadn't, she could leave it alone for the moment, too. But she worried none the less.

"Um…" JJ tried to get back the attention. "The local police thought that these murders were committed by a group of four men they had already arrested several times."

"And here comes a 'but'…" Rossi added unenthusiastically.

"But all they did in the past was to break in shop windows and windscreens or write some offending messages on walls."

"Simple vandalism." Hotch concluded.

"Yes. Plus they freaked out when the police showed them the crime scene photos. Big time."

"All in all, we don't have anything." Rossi summed up the situation. He was losing his patience and quickly. That whole thing just didn't make any sense.

"Great." Emily said bitterly.

"Different types of victims, different MO…" Rossi went on stressing his point.

"Actually the change in victim type can help us." Hotch spoke up. His voice sounded tense and, like Rossi, he also began to lose his patience but because of a different reason. He felt like a teacher in high-school where nothing is good enough for the kids.

"Well, changing from Afro-Americans to white women really gives us much to go by." Emily commented sarcastically siding with Rossi on that matter. God, she wanted to be at home. "These cases are probably not connected at all. By the way, who the hell thought that a case involving only black people has anything to do with another one involving only white women. It's just me or that doesn't make any sense." She was really getting annoyed.

And so was Hotch.

"Well," He raised his voice in annoyance. "…if you hadn't been interrupting JJ every minute, maybe she could have finished the report and maybe we would have the whole picture by now which, I must add, would make much more sense than the tidbits she managed to explain." By the time he finished his little monologue, Hotch had really felt like in high-school. Looking at his colleagues' bewildered and now rather guilty expression, he took a deep breath and continued in a different tone. "Look, I know that probably all of you had something planned for your day off, I had, too, but we have a new case now. There is a woman, who needs our help. We have to focus and do our job otherwise this woman will die and others will follow." After getting everybody's silent understanding, Hotch turned back to JJ. "JJ…"

"Well… These are the husbands or boyfriends of our victims…" Four other pictures appeared under the women's pictures. "They were found dead in their homes. Stabbed to death."

"All of them?" Rossi asked incredulously. JJ nodded.

"Apparently the husbands are not the ones who hold the interest of our unsub." Hotch stated what everybody else had concluded already.

"Yes. So something had to happen in his life which made him change his type." Reid began to think aloud. "He had evolved. After literally executing black people he went on and attacked couples executing the husband and abducting and torturing the wife."

"No." Emily finally managed to tear her gaze away from the photos. She felt disgusted. "He executes the black boyfriend and abducts and tortures his white girlfriend. He hates those women more than any men whose skin is black."

"Alright." Hotch began. "Now we've got the whole picture. Let's continue this on the jet. We have to be quick." Everybody nodded as they stood up. "We meet in thirty minutes. Thank you." With that he left like everybody else. Except Emily.

She remained standing in front of the desk looking at the photos. Eight smiling people. Four happy couples. And they had to die just because they had been born black or because they had fallen in love with those people… It was so wrong.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a soft 'hey' from the direction of the door then she saw Morgan stand next to her. She turned a little to look at him and suddenly she didn't want anything better than to step into his arms and hold onto him. But she couldn't. Anybody could see them. So she clenched her fists willing her arms not to move and touch him and stepped back a little distracting herself by looking into the file.

"Derek…" She began but didn't know what to say. The file contained several of the crime scene photos and looking at them she felt so much hatred emanating from them that she found it hard to breath. How could a human being feel so much hate?

"I know." Morgan said gently. "Come on. We have to go and get that bastard."

"Yes, we have to." She agreed closing the file and with a final look at the pictures on the screen she left the room with Morgan closely following.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hatred**

_Before you begin to read I have to warn you that this chapter is rated M because its content contains violence and racism. So if you don't like it, please, skip this chapter._

_I also want to declare here that I distance myself from the ideas that are presented in this chapter. I actually feel bad about writing them down but I wanted to give a glimpse at the unsub's thoughts and his motivation. I hope I didn't offend anybody with it._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Chapter 3_

I sit down into my comfortable armchair. I'm exhausted. The muscles in my back and right arm are aching. But it was worth it because as I'm sitting here watching that bitch taking her very last breath I feel satisfaction. And as I'm slowly closing my eyes the memory of her screaming lulls me into sleep and the last image I see is her torn body which would be in a heap on the floor by now if it wasn't for the chains on her wrists hanging from the ceiling keeping her up.

I'm sure I'll sleep with a smile on my face.

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I wake up with a start.

That trash is still on the floor. I smile at the irony that her now dry blood paints her skin dark. It's actually funny. After all she was the one who acted like one of them. Who wanted to be one of them. She should thank me.

Now I'm actually lauging...

I have to get rid of her... but first I have to take a shower. I feel filthy with her dirty blood all over me.

As I leave my little shelter and lock the door I realize that it's still dark. Good. It's so early that even the dogs are quiet and don't make any noise as I go to the house. It's dark inside. Jeff must be sleeping. He is working far too much lately. I understand him, though. It's hard to get over such a betrayal. And people would think that there is a line that normal people wouldn't cross… But apparently there is no such thing.

As I exit the bathroom I feel clean again and the satisfaction of this night is back. Yes. Not another bitch can do it again to a man what that woman did to Jeff.

The images of that dirty bitch are feeling my mind as I preparing breakfast for Jeff. Her face when I told her that I had killed her negro husband… the way her body shook with pain… the blood which made her white skin red. I still hear the sound of leather meeting skin.

I smile.

I hope Jeff will like his sandwich…

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On my way to the store I threw out the garbage and now I feel really, really good.

I smile at Angie as I enter the store. Boy, that girl is sexy in that purple shirt. Today she is wearing her hair down. Good. I like watching those golden curls as they fall down to her shoulder and farther down to her back.

The only problem with that is that it makes me act like a fool around her. I'm such a loser in her eyes.

Maybe today I'll ask her out…

But first here comes another boring day…

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As I stand behind the desk I let my mind wander back to the previous night. I feel the anger well up in me. It's not enough that the those fucking negroes are living in our country like free birds and taking everything from the white men. From those men who built this country. From those men who lifted their black ass from the mud and gave them work. Gave them food and a roof above their heads. They are ungrateful bastards. And now that they have everything, it's not good enough for them either. Now they want our women. And they are ready to give themselves to those bastards. It's disgusting. It's so fucking disgusting. Those women are worse than any black bitch. They are betraying our society. Our people. Our men. Jeff.

But at least I have the gut to do something. I know I can't prevent it. I'm not powerful enough. But I can punish it. And punish I do. I make sure that those whores know the gravity of their sin.

I tremble with pleasure only at the thought of my deed. It is my quest now. A quest not everybody approves now but with time will turn out to be a milestone in the history of our society. Yes. With time. I have to smile but…

…what the fuck!

Times like this are the reason why I hate this job so much.

That bunch of fucking idiots in the White House. Why are they there if they don't even know what to do? They should have banned those black animals from public places ages ago. But guess what? They're walking among us as if it were the most natural thing in this fucking world! That's what I was talking about.

I wince when she takes one of the cases from the shelf. She takes it into her dirty black hand. I don't want to watch this anymore. I try to look away but I can't. I feel my hands itching and the memory of those animals came back to me. Those black eyes which were begging me… begging me to stop. Those black skins and hairs which were stained with their dirty blood… The crimson blood on white skin…

The bell of the door snaps me out of my daydream when two people enter the store. A man and a woman. A black man and a white woman. God, the world's going fucking crazy!

"Hi! What can I do for you?" I ask them with a polite smile on my face.

"Hi! I'm Agent Morgan and this is Agent Prentiss. We are from the FBI."

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer:__ As always, I don't own anything._

_Chapter 4_

The team was sitting on the plane each one of them deep in thoughts. This case was strange to say the least and although first it was Morgan who had taken it too personally now Emily was the one deeply disturbed by the implications of this case. It wasn't anything knew for her to take personal interest in cases but this one hit much closer to home than any previous case had done before.

Now she personally felt the injustice of the unsub's acts.

That unsub judged her own personal life and condemned it as something contemptible, something which only can be looked at with pure hatred.

And she felt the need to defend not just herself but everybody else out there against those charges and contempt the unsub seemed to represent.

"It's strange." Rossi spoke up after the long silence. There was something in that case that just disturbed him. "This guy had changed his MO, his victimology and yet, even in the latest cases where he abducted those white women there is no sexual component involved."

"That's, indeed, incredibly rare in the cases of abducted women." Reid agreed.

"That's because for him those white women are just as black as the other victims." Emily turned to the older man sitting across the table. "He hates them."

"That's true." Morgan added. "We all know that most rapists choose their victims from the same race as they are. In this case it's irrelevant."

"And it makes it all the more difficult to catch." Hotch said. "He has no preferences. He can attack any mixed-race couple whom he comes across."

"We have to be quick. If we don't find any connection between the couples, we'll have to add one more to the list and only God knows who'll it be." Rossi stated what everybody else had already known.

"And don't forget, people, that there is still a woman out there." Hotch added.

"Actually…" JJ started as she closed her phone. "They've just found her body."

A long silence followed this statement while everybody processed the information.

"Alright…" Hotch spoke up finally. "Rossi, Morgan. You are going to the dumpsite. Reid, Prentiss, you take a look at the house of the latest couple's. JJ and I are going to the police department."

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_Columbia Police Department_

"You must be the FBI." A young African-American woman hurried to greet Hotch and JJ as they entered the bullpen. For Hotch she seemed almost too young to be a detective. "Hi. I'm Detective Johnson but, please, just call me Maggie." She said hurriedly as she reached out to shake hands with the agents. And she continued just as fast as she had begun. "I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am that you are here. God, this is my first case as a detective and everybody's waiting for me to do a miracle. It's crazy."

"Well, Maggie, you've already made one." JJ reassured the apparently overstressed young detective. "You've made a connection between cases which would probably get swept under the carpet by others." And that was the truth. Detective Johnson was one of the patrol officers who worked on the hate-crime cases and then on the first when a mixed-race couple was attacked. During the whole time she insisted on the cases being connected but her commanding officer and the head of the Columbia Police Department, finding her arguments rather farfetched, shut her off. Up until the second attack…

"Thank you but all I did was running into a brick wall head-first. More than once. And now that I broke it down I'm stuck. I have to admit that I've no idea where to go from here…"

"That's why we are here. We'll give you a profile which hopefully will help you." Hotch said to the woman. He quickly realized that there was a lot of pressure on the young detective and, judged by the looks they were getting, a lot of eyes on her every move. "So, where can we settle down?"

Maggie quickly showed them to a little conference room where they promptly settled down to study the case files with the help of the detective.

By the time Reid got to the station, leaving Emily behind in the fourth couple's house, two whiteboards had been already set up. One of them dealt with the previous cases and the other one with the couples. Maggie was standing in front of them writing what the agents deemed important to be noted.

"Hey, guys." Reid greeted his colleagues. "Rossi sent me back to start the geographical profile."

"A geographical profile?" Maggie turned towards the young agent with interest and all attention focused on him.

"Well… er… yes…" Reid began embarrassed by the unexpected attention which came from a very attractive stranger. "It can help us obtain important information about the unsub. For example where he could have met the victims or… or… something like that." He was obviously in discomfort but Maggie didn't seem to notice it.

"Cool!" She exclaimed excitedly like a schoolgirl but quickly retained her composure. "Sorry." She said in embarrassment and in that moment she reminded the older agents of their youngest colleague who was still standing in the door in a similar manner.

"Alright." Hotch spoke up. "Reid, get started! Detective Johnson will help you as she seems quite interested. We will finish this up with JJ."

So the four of them paired up and continued working.

As JJ and Hotch were going through the files the sound of giggling reached their ears. As they slowly turned around and took a confused look at the other side of the room they couldn't help but stare in astonishment.

There was Dr Spencer Reid chatting carefree with the young woman. And he wasn't just rambling about statistics. No. He was talking about statistics with Maggie who was clinging on every words of the young genius while they were working on the profile.

"Unbelievable." Even the always cool and collected unit chief couldn't hide his surprise.

"They are very cute together, don't you think, Hotch?" JJ turned to her supervisor with a smile on her face.

"Well, certainly they would make a very interesting couple as I see it but I doubt that they even know each other's name." And that was true. The two youngest occupants of the room were so absorbed in their task and their apparently very interesting conversation that they had totally forgot to introduce themselves.

"As you said it, a very interesting couple." JJ said still smiling then turned back to her work.

"Well, I would be happy for Reid but at the moment we have a case to solve." Hotch replied sternly then turned back to the couple. "Reid, I hope you'll be ready with that profile soon. The others must be back any minute now."

"Oh…" Reid came back to reality and it took him a few seconds to process Hotch's words. "Of course, Boss. Just a few more minutes and we'll be ready."

"Good." Hotch said satisfied then began to turn back to his work but, as a second thought, he turned back to the boy. "And Reid… Introduce yourself to the lady!" With that he continued working with a smirk on his face.

**TBC**

_Well, thank you for reading and I promise that the next chapter will be better._


	5. Chapter 5

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Here you are. The next chapter… Enjoy!!!_

_Chapter 5_

_The Dumpsite_

"What do you think, Dave?" Morgan asked his colleague as they were standing in a muddy backstreet of Columbia where the latest victim, Olivia Haley's body was found in the morning. She was simply thrown into a dumpster like garbage.

"Well, I think that we have a geographical profile." The older agent answered cryptically.

"How come?"

"Give me a map, will you?"

As they stood in front of their black SUV the map spread out on the hood Rossi pointed out that the houses of the victims and the places where the women's bodies were found weren't so far away from each other.

"So, we can assume that the unsub's living or at least working in this neighborhood." Morgan concluded.

"Well, that's my theory. But we can let Reid do his thing. Maybe he'll be able to tell us more after he compared all of the victims. I'll call him"

"You do that." Morgan said his voice trailing off when he saw a pair of tire-marks near to the dumpster. He went to one of the CSIs, who were now just about to pack up and leave, to ask about it.

"Hey, Man! Can you help me?" The CSI just nodded but didn't turn towards the agent. Apparently packing his bag was very demanding. "I saw a pair of tire-marks next to the dumpster. Have you checked it out yet?"

"We have but it wouldn't give you much to go by." He answered in a flat tone still not looking at Morgan. Well, he didn't belong to the friendliest people on Earth, Morgan noted. Either he wasn't so interested in the case or he lacked even the basic social skills. "It apparently doesn't belong to the case." And he closed his bag ready to leave.

"Why?" Rossi asked joining his colleagues after calling Reid. That was the first time that the CSI had looked at the profilers.

"We found tire-marks on two out of three other scenes as well but none one of them is a match to the others." His tone betrayed his annoyance. Now that he was standing face to face with the agent, his superiority became more apparent. "We still don't know how the victims got into the dumpsters."

"Well, he obviously couldn't carry them on his shoulder." Rossi stated sarcastically. "So the car is our best guess."

"Yeah, it's worth a check. Maybe the guy saw something." Morgan commented then turned to the CSI. "Have you checked the possible owners of this car?"

"Are you kidding me?" His tone was really getting on the nerves of both Morgan and Rossi. "We are not in _Crime Scene Investigation_. We won't solve the case for you. That's your job. We are just the lab rats."

"Yeah, of course. Could you tell me the type of this vehicle then?" Morgan asked the man irritated.

"It is a Ford E-250. Quite a big car if you ask me."

"Thanks. And now I'm going to do my job." Morgan said to the CSI pointedly then turned to Rossi. "I'll check it with Garcia. Maybe it'll help after all." With that he went a few steps away and speed-dialed the blonde woman.

The line was busy. He tried to call her three times and only for the fourth time came an answer.

"Yep." Came the uncharacteristically short greeting.

"Hey, Baby Girl, I need your help."

"Oh, Gorgeous Thing, I'm beginning to feel embarrassed." She sounded pouting.

"And why is that Sugar Face?" Morgan asked her with a smile.

"Well, you're beginning to work faster than me. I've just hung up with Emily."

"Don't worry, Garcia. Nobody can compete with the Queen of Cyberspace. You are the best."

"Don't I know that? I just needed to feed my ego. So what do you want?"

"The names of those people who own a Ford E-250 in Columbia."

Morgan heard the clattering of the keyboard through his phone as Garcia quickly typed in the necessary information.

"Well, you have quite many names, Darling. Tell me more!"

"We're looking for a man who lives or works in Cayce."

"That's already looking better." Garcia said after a few seconds of keyboard clapping. "Alright, you've got 13 names which means…" Another pause. "Nine names exactly. I'm sending them now."

"Hold on a second, Baby Girl. Nine?"

"Yes. Four of them are handicapped." She replied as if the answer should have been evident for her friend.

"Alright. Thanks, Mama."

After Morgan had closed his phone he turned to Rossi who was talking to the CSI again.

"Rossi, we've got nine names. It's not much but at least something."

"Right, and Mr Tyler here can help us narrow that list further down." Rossi answered and the two agents turned to the man.

"Well, we've found some paint on the dumpster so we'll be able to tell you the color of the vehicle but you still can't place that car on the other crime scenes." His tone seemed less irritated than before for Morgan. He almost seemed apologetic. He wondered what Rossi could have said to the man.

"Thanks anyway." Rossi offered kindly, maybe too kindly, then turned to Morgan. "Alright. So the evidence is of not much help." Morgan just shook his head frustrated. "Let's find out who this guy is." And with that they began to walk around the crime scene to find out as much about the unsub's personality as possible.

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_The House of the Fourth Couple (Olivia and Edward Haley)_

Reid and Emily were standing in front of the Haley-house taking in the surroundings.

"You know, these cases are always creeping me out." Emily stated. "You are living in a nice neighborhood. You know almost everybody and you feel safe. But then something like this happens… and it turns out that the perp lives just next door. And you never knew…"

"Yes, it's quite possible that we're looking for somebody who lives here. Somebody whom nobody would suspect. That's why he can take the women… I mean he must have a car and if he would be a stranger people would notice… Sorry." He said as his phone began to ring. While he answered the phone Emily went up to the front door where a young uniformed officer was standing.

"Hi, I'm Agent Prentiss." She showed him her badge and the officer nodded. "What can you tell me about murder?"

"It was like the other cases, Ma'am. The guy forced his way in and attacked the couple in their bedroom. All four of the male victims were found in there. There is no sign of struggle. At least not much."

"He surprised them." Emily concluded. "Thanks."

She entered the house and stopped to look around.

"Emily, do you need me here?" Reid came up to the female agent after finishing his phone-call. "Rossi just called. It seems that they reached the same conclusion as we. I thought that I should head back to the Police Department and start the geographical profile. It may help us found a link between the victims."

"It's alright. I'll do it alone. Here." She took the keys of the SUV from her pocket at gave it to Reid. "Take the car. I'll go with the officer."

"Thanks. Then see you at the station." With that he left Emily in the house.

"Officer!" She turned to the man still standing in front of the door. "Could you help me, please?"

"Of course, Ma'am. What shall I do?"

"Please, call me Emily!" She asked the officer. She's never really been able to get used to this "ma'am" thing. The young man gave her a shy smile and held out his hand.

"I'm Bill, Ma'am. Oh… Sorry. Emily." They shook hands. Emily noted that she'd managed to make the young man a little embarrassed with her sudden friendliness. He was actually cute.

"Alright, Bill. All you need to do is to stand here. I can work better if there is somebody listening." With that they went into the living room.

After a few second of observing, Emily heard a low chuckle. She turned towards Bill who was holding a DVD case in his hand.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just this DVD. They were watching the _Life of Bryan_. Probably that was the last movie they saw." He said still chuckling a little but suddenly he realized what he had just said. "I… I'm so sorry, Ma'am. I didn't mean it that way… It just came out wrong." He was still very cute but he could really leave the "ma'am" part.

"Don't worry about it. It happens to everybody." She really took pity on him. "By the way I like that movie, too. I'm not really into this whole English humor thing but that movie is good."

"Yeah…" Bill said still embarrassed looking down at the case in his hand. "It's from the Movie Land DVD and Video Store." Suddenly his whole demeanor change. Strangely he seemed excited. "It's a good place. Quite popular. I bet everybody in this neighborhood goes there. You can find everything in that store… I remember once I found an old movie… it was my Granny's favorite but she hasn't seen it since ages… I found it… she was so happy…" And now again he realized that his behavior was quite far from an officer's. So he shut up.

"What did you say?" Emily asked. Besides finding this young officer cuter and cuter by the minute, now her interest was clearly awakened. Not as if Bill had noticed it.

"Nothing Ma'am. Er… Emily. Sorry. I think I'm a little nervous so I try to compensate with rambling but I promise…"

"No, no. It's alright. What did you say about the DVD Store?"

"That it's one of the most popular places?" He was still thinking about the relevance of this fact when Emily was already on the phone.

"You managed to reach the all seeing, all knowing Penelope Garcia. Speak you frail human being and you might be heard."

"Hey, Garcia. You've got me and Bill."

"Bill? Hi Bill!" Garcia greeted the officer with a cheery voice.

"Oh… Hi?" He sounded somewhat shy.

"Wow, Cupcake, he sounds sexy." Garcia exclaimed and Emily took pity on the poor boy who hadn't seemed to get comfortable since she called him into the house for help. "How old are you, Darling?"

Bill looked a little taken aback by the question but answered nonetheless.

"Twenty-three, Ma'am."

"Ma'am… Isn't he a cute thing, Emily?" The blonde asked giggling. "It's a pity that he is so young… I could eat him."

"Alright, Garcia. Give the guy a break and help me!"

"Back to business. Alright. Talk to me, Angel Face!"

"Can you check for me if the couples have ever visited a DVD store called Movie Land? Were they members, just popped in once or worked nearby? Anything."

"Just a minute…" Emily could hear that she was typing furiously. "Here you go. That was easy. Next time try to make me sweat, Honey! You know that I like it more that way…"

"Of course, Garcia." Secretly Emily enjoyed seeing the effect that her friend had on the young cop standing next to her. He was red like a lobster. "What have you got?"

"The Haleys and the Browns were members since ages as I can see. Real movie freaks if you ask me. Emily Higgins, too. She studied media art at University of South Carolina. And finally here's Rachel O'Connor. She was there once or twice as I can see it on her credit card."

"That's good Garcia. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Anything else?"

"No. That's for now. I have to go. B…"

"Wait! Wait! Can I speak to Bill just a little more?"

"Good bye, Garcia!" Emily said rolling her eyes and shut her phone laughing. "I'm sorry for that." She turned to Bill who was still looking quite miserable. He just nodded not trusting himself to speak.

"Come on! Maybe you've just solved the case!" Emily gave Bill an encouraging smile. "Let's go finish this up here."

**TBC**

_Alright. That was it. Thanks for reading!_

_Just one thing, though. I'm not from the US so I haven't got the faintest idea about the districts of Columbia. So I can only hope that I didn't write anything stupid naming Cayce as one of them. If I did, well… let's just say that my map-reading skills sucks. Sorry…_


	6. Chapter 6

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_C__hapter 6_

_Columbia Police Department_

By noon everybody had been back to the station. Some of them in better spirit than before their tour to the city, some of them just quite the same.

Emily, for once, felt better. Not only was it good to work with the young uniformed officer she had just met but he also proved to be very useful for the case as well. However, she had to admit, even though just to herself, that it was quite upsetting going through the house of the Haleys'. Watching their photos which were displayed in the house made it clear that they were really very happy. It was sad that they had got only a couple of months as a married couple. And which was even more upsetting was that it turned out from her investigation that they were trying to have a baby… Emily felt so much rage towards the man who had deprived them of a happy life… But they had a lead and it lifted her spirit considerably.

"So Prentiss, I heard you've got yourself a sexy young police officer." Morgan put a mug of coffee in front of Emily then sat down next to her with a mischievous smile on his face. "Want to tell me something?"

"No." She shook her head as she reached for the mug. "Not exactly." She added and gave him a huge grin which would have told Morgan otherwise if he hadn't known better. "But I heard you haven't got yourself a young and sexy CSI, you poor thing." Her voice was full of mock pity.

"No. I haven't. He was more Rossi's type." He frowned and furrowed his brows as if considering something. "They seemed to get along well."

"Aww…" Emily commented while both of them were laughing. Emily was grateful for Mmorgan's company which allowed her to concentrate on something else other than the horrible facts of the case.

Then Hotch walked in and they had to face reality…

After everybody sat down they began to work.

"What do we know, people?"

"That this scumbag is a first class sick son of a bitch with serious God-complex…" Emily supplied matter-of-factly and everybody turned towards her with surprise. She always was extremely collected and never really let anything slip that would have indicated her feelings towards the unsubs. But not this time, they noted.

"I agree." Maggie quipped in quickly when the stunned silence began to stretch out.

"We all agree…" Hotch said solemnly. "…but let's just concentrate on things that can help us. It's more constructive."

"We have nine names who could have been on the dumpsite." Morgan said. "I'm sure that it can be further narrowed down if we take a look at them."

"Plus our CSI friend will call me when they've found out the color of the car." Rossi added. Morgan mouthed a bemused 'I told you so' to Emily who frowned and smiled at the same time desperately trying to hide her reaction to this statement.

"What kind of a car was that?" Reid asked apparently oblivious to that little scene in front of him while the others looked at Emily bemused.

"It's a Ford E-250. Why?"

"You know this car question is bugging me. I mean people know about the murders. They must be more cautious than usual and still they don't notice a big van just standing in the street in front of their houses?"

"That's true, Kid. But it seems that the unsub's switching cars. The CSIs found three sets of different tire-marks and that's only at the dumpsites. He seems for me quite careful not to get noticed. He's smart." Morgan argued.

"We should check if anybody's reported stolen cars." Maggie said.

"We can try that…" Hotch told her. "…but this man is not considering himself a criminal. I doubt that he would stoop to stealing cars."

"But it's worth a shot." She said and the others nodded.

"Maybe he didn't have to steal those cars." Reid said still thinking about something. "Maybe he has those cars."

At that moment Rossi's phone began to ring and every pair of eyes turned towards him waiting for something that could take their investigation forward. And they didn't wait it vain.

"It was Mr Tyler." Rossi stated after he had shut his phone. "He said that the Ford was white."

Morgan quickly checked the list that Garcia had sent to him with the names of the Ford owners.

"Well, we still have three names. We could go and talk to them." He offered. They didn't have any better option at the moment and three names were quite manageable. But suddenly Maggie turned to Reid.

"Hey, Spencer, you mentioned something about the guy's owning those cars…" She said and Reid nodded. "As in a company or a car store, for example?"

"Animal rescue." Emily suddenly said just realizing something and turned to the young detective. "They have white cars, don't they? I saw one of them patrolling the street while I was at the Haley's house and then another one on the way back here."

"Well, the presence of animal rescue is quite big in the town. Nobody would think twice seeing a car parking somewhere. And there is a rescue team in Cayce as well."

"Alright…" JJ said standing up. "I'll call Garcia and check this car issue until then you can give the profile if you have it."

"We can do that." Rossi said. "More or less…"

"Anything else?" Hotch asked before everybody would have left the room.

"Well I think that I've found the connection between the victims." Emily answered. "Bill said that there is a very popular DVD store in the neighborhood so I checked in with Garcia and it turned out that all of the victims visited that store not so long ago. I say it worth a shot. Maybe the unsub works there."

"You and Morgan can go there after we've given the profile." The two of them looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Um… Guys…" Maggie said as she turned away from the map, she and Reid were studying, to look at the others with a frown on her face. "That DVD store's just outside of that area that Spencer and I managed to draw up."

"That's not necessarily a bad think." Reid quickly told Maggie whose eyes immediately lit up. He gave her a satisfied smile which didn't go unnoticed by the group of profilers. "We only presumed that the unsub's working or living in that area. But what if he is working **and** living in that area? That would mean that there is an absolute border to his comfort zone. Maybe that store is on that border."

"Well, that's just an assumption but we can look into that." Hotch told them. At that point every theory was worth checking out.

"Hey, guys, you're still here?" JJ came back to the room. "I've got news… and a name." Everybody was looking at he blonde woman intently. "Jeffrey Arden. He is the manager of the Little Paws Animal Rescue which is recorded as the owner of six cars. His name is on the list."

"Great!" This time Maggie sounded excited as she turned away from the map. "The animal rescue is placed right on the other side of our signed area. That must mean something, right?" She looked hopefully at the profilers. Rossi nodded as all of them considered it.

"Cool! Now I'll show you a little cop stuff, Clever Boy." Maggie said smugly and poked Reid in the ribs.

-------------------------

"We are looking for a white male." Hotch began the profile as everybody gathered together in the bullpen of the police department. "He is in his thirties. He is highly intelligent and extremely efficient."

"However, he is reckless." Rossi took over. "He has already killed eight people in the last two weeks. Not to mention the other murders before that."

"He is driven by a serious sense of duty… a quest which he has to accomplish." Morgan continued.

"And hate." This time it was Emily who spoke up. "Not only is he a racist but he feels incredibly much hate towards his white female victims as well. He keeps them for almost two days. He tortures them."

"And that's why we assume that he suffered great injustice about two weeks ago when his MO and victimology changed." It was again Hotch's turn. "An injustice which can be related to a white woman. A boss, a colleague, a girlfriend… somebody who chose a black male over him…"

"He is driven by rage, too…" Morgan added.

"A reckless, raging man who is blinded by his delusion." Rossi spoke up again. "He is incredibly dangerous even more so because he is well adapted to society. He is an average man… educated, too… with a good job… and a good reputation."

"That's why he didn't get caught so far and that's why it won't be easy to catch him, either." Morgan continued again. "But as every man, blinded by his endeavor, he is likely to commit a mistake."

"And how does it help us?" An officer spoke up. "What are we supposed to do? Just wait for the guy to screw up? That's one damn good plan… Sir."

"Shut up, Joey!" Maggie told the officer in a stern voice.

"No, it's alright." JJ stepped up and turned to the officers. "We know that he lives in Cayce. He works there, too. We've already narrowed down the area where he is most likely to attack again. And we'll do our best to make his job difficult. We'll double the patrol cars in Cayce and if we are lucky, we'll get him."

"And if we're not?" The officer wasn't about to make their work easy.

"Look, people." Hotch spoke up while JJ tried to find the words which would have made the harsh truth just a little bit more acceptable. They had to wait. "We know that this profile doesn't tell much about the unsub but at the moment that's all we have. Hopefully we will able to tell you more in the afternoon. Until then, watch out! Thank you!" Hotch concluded the briefing session.

While the officers went on to their own business the team gathered around the unit chief.

"Alright…" Hotch began tensely. He didn't like the situation one bit and he was quickly getting frustrated with it. "Morgan, Prentiss, you go to the DVD store. Try to find something! Anything." They nodded and quickly went off. "Reid, Detective, you go and talk to Jeffrey Arden! I'll stay here with Dave and JJ and try to find something we might have missed."

"Yes…" Reid said turning away but then he stopped. "And Hotch! I think that you should go over the crime scenes again. I mean the houses. I can't help but think that something is not right." He was thinking about it hard, even during the briefing, but he couldn't put his finger on it what could have been so disturbing for him. "There is something missing."

"We'll do that." With that the little group went back to their office.

"Alright… then…" He said to the backs of his colleagues.

"Come on at last, Blonde Wonder!" And with that Maggie grabbed his arm and pulled Reid out of the office.

**TBC**

_Thanks for reading!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. Oh, if I would...  
_

_Well, it took me a while but I finally managed to update… you know university and all…_

_Enjoy!_

_Chapter 7_

_On the Way to Jeffrey Arden's House_

The tires screeched as Maggie took the turn with the car and Reid found himself pressed up against the door of the passenger seat then suddenly jolted to the other direction as the young detective next to him overtook another vehicle.

"Jesus, Maggie!" The profiler gasped as he gained back his balance once again. "Are you trying to kill us?"

"Oh, chill a little, Spencer!" The crazy girl next to him said as they quickly left behind the cars in the next line.

"Chill!?" He sounded incredulous and slightly panicked as he was clinging to the handrail for dear life. "Did you know that there are about 43,000 people killed in fatal car accidents each year and that's only in the United States? And just for you to know reckless driving is one of the main reasons of those accide… Aaaa…"

"Watch out you bitch! Where the fucking hell you got your damn license?" Reid, after his life had just literally played out in front of his mind's eyes, looked at Maggie, who was fuming at the moment, shocked. "I swear if I were still a patrol officer…" She began but then she looked over at Reid and a caring smile appeared on her face. "Come on, Wonder Boy…" She reached out to squeeze his knee. "I was the best driver in my class at the academy."

As if this statement should have calmed down Reid's raging nerves. And just to top of it all, the slender hand on his knee, which ultimately belonged to the beautiful woman next to him, and her warm and lovely brown eyes made him even more nervous… but because of a totally different reason.

"Uhm…" He swallowed a large. "Would you… would you please… look… at he road?" He managed to give her a nervous smile, too.

Maggie gave him a last glance than removed her hand and focused on the road again. Much to Reid's relief…

-------------------------

_The DVD__ Store_

Morgan and Emily stepped into the DVD store. They took a quick glance around the store then went to the main desk which was at the end of the quite large place.

"Hi! What can I do for you?" A young blonde boy greeted them. He was in his early twenties and definitely looked bored even though he tried to master up a pleasant look. Despite his pleasant look, Emily decided that she didn't like him at all. There was something in his eyes which she couldn't quite place…

"Hi! I'm Agent Morgan and this is Agent Prentiss." Morgan started while taking his badge showing it to the boy behind the desk. "We are from the FBI."

"Oh…" He looked confused and a little afraid. It wasn't uncommon, though. A lot of people didn't know how to act in the company of FBI agents. Some of them usually began to think frantically whether they had done something… Sometimes Morgan found it quite amusing.

"Is the manager available?"

"Um… available? The manager? No. No, Sir. Not… available." He mumbled looking at the female agent in front of him.

"Then who is in charge here?" Emily stepped up impatiently.

"In charge?" The boy asked back. Emily groaned inwardly while giving a look to the boy. That would be long. "Well… that's me, Ma'am." This time Emily let her groan to be heard and Morgan gave her a little smile. _There we go again!_

"Well, then…" Emily began. She was getting annoyed… and fast. "We need a list of the employees who are working here."

"A list?"

"Look, boy…" Morgan took over before Emily could totally throw the poor boy off the track. "…we're investigating a murder case and we have every reason to believe that the man, who committed the crime, has a connection to this store." The boy swallowed visibly while his glance jumped at Morgan for a second then settled down back on Emily. Alright, it might not be the wisest way to handle the case, Morgan admitted to himself.

At that moment a blonde girl stepped through a door which must have led to the office.

"What's going on, Pete?" She asked the boy who suddenly seemed more miserable than before. Emily gave a sigh of relief when she glanced at the girl. She was slightly younger than the boy but she seemed definitely more sensible.

"Hi! I'm Agent Prentiss from the FBI and this is Agent Morgan." _Let's go back to square one!_ "We need the names of those people who are working here." Well, it wasn't the most polite way to ask but she didn't really care at that moment.

"Of course, Ma'am, but it's just me and Pete here. Practically we're running the business. The manager sometimes pops in but it's really not that often. Usually she's too busy to spend any time here."

Morgan and Prentiss shared a look. There went their theory about the store.

"And what about the people who are regular customers?" Morgan tried in despair. There had to be something in that store. "Did you notice someone strange? Someone who may be giving more attention to other customers than necessary? Especially couples? White women with African-American men?"

"These people, for example." Emily took out the photos of the four couples and showed them to the girl.

"Oh my God!" She apparently recognized the pictures. "Oh… this is Liv and Eddie… and… that's Emily." She looked up at the agents with fear in her eyes. "What happened?"

"They were murdered." Emily stated bluntly and Morgan, first, looked at her then looked at the mortified girl behind the desk.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but it would be important for us to know whether you noticed anything strange in the behavior of any of the customers. Anything at all."

"I…" The girl began. "I don't really know. There are so many people. They're coming and going. Sometimes we chat a little… But I can't really remember. Sorry."

"And you?" Morgan turned to the boy who was now standing behind the girl. "Have you noticed anything strange?"

"Me?" He asked back still not looking at him. Morgan unconsciously took a step to the side effectively forcing Emily behind him. "No, Sir. They're all nice folks here."

"Alright. But if you happen to see anything, please, give us a call, will you?" He gave a card to the girl who nodded and took a last look at the boy. There was something creepy about him…

As they started towards the door Morgan was thinking about saying something reassuring to the woman in front of him. She was obviously upset that they didn't manage to get further in the case. He was, too. But Emily obviously needed some good words… unfortunately he couldn't give them to her. He would be lying then.

They were almost by the exit when Morgan's eyes fell on something and a little smile appeared on his face. He might not be able to say that they could solve that case quickly but he could at least try to lighten up his distressed girlfriend's mood.

"Hey, look, Prentiss what I've found!" Morgan stopped in front of the comedy section. "They have all _Police Academy_. I bet that's one of your favorite. So many uniforms in one place!"

"Very funny Morgan!" She said sarcastically.

"Come on, Emily…" He stepped very close to his colleague. And, as he looked down at Emily with their faces only inches apart, it was apparent that he wasn't talking to the agent anymore. He was talking with his girlfriend. "You want to tell me that you've never fantasized about a uniformed man?" He asked her bemused his eyes sparkling.

"Shut up, Morgan!" She said then turned to leave the store. Morgan, however, didn't move. He just stood there with a silly grin on his face. Although Emily hadn't answered his question but the red tint, which was so rare to see on her cheek, told him everything.

"Agent Morgan!" He heard her calling him so he hurried out after her.

"You know I was a street cop… and I still have my uniform…" He said suggestively. Emily just rolled her eyes and got into the SUV. Her interest had been stirred, though… and a smile had been put on her face…

.........................

_Jeffery Arden__'s House_

As they pulled up in front of Jeffrey Arden's house, Maggie almost immediately jumped out of the car. Reid, though, took his time to regain his bearings and managed to leave the car with only slightly shaking knees.

The house was a regular family house with its neat front garden and its front porch.

The pair started towards the front door when a man appeared from behind the house.

"Can I help you?" He asked them.

"Actually, yes. We're looking for Jeffrey Arden." Maggie answered show her badge.

"Oh, he is in the back. In the clinic."

They made their way towards the clinic and they indeed found the man there. Maggie was in full cop-mode since they left the car while Reid remained in the background and observed the events as a profiler.

"Mr Arden?" Maggie asked as they entered the clinic. She didn't even wait for a reply before she would have continued. "I'm Detective Johnson and this is Dr Reid from the FBI."

The man, who was standing with his back to them, was busy with the file cabinet and he took his time finishing what he was doing and only after that did he turn towards the young detective. First he didn't say anything just seized up the people, who had disturbed his work, with unconcealed superiority and annoyance.

"It's Doctor Arden." He corrected the detective.

"Alright, Dr Arden. We'd like to ask you a few questions." Now Maggie's voice was also filled with annoyance. Reid had a feeling that it would become ugly very fast…

"Just do it fast. We've just brought in a German Shepard who needs my attention."

"Are you the manager of this organization?"

"Yes, I am."

"How many people are employed here?"

"I can't tell you an exact number. I have only a handful of registered workers here. Most of the guys are volunteers. They are here because they believe in what we are doing."

"And everybody has access to the vehicles which are in the possession of the organization?"

"Yes. Why?" It was apparent that the veterinarian was becoming quite uncomfortable with the line of questioning. His board shoulders became even tenser than before. That was the point when Reid took in his appearance more carefully. He was an extremely well-built man in his late thirties. He had blonde hair and light blue eyes which made his face even colder. His features were hard and his posture was proud.

He was the perfect example of their profile.

"We'll need a list of all the people who are working here, official or not."

"And again, why?"

"Dr Arden, we're investigating in a series of murders and we have good reason to think that your cars were on most of the crime scenes."

Reid's earlier realization made the young profiler almost as eager as Maggie had been since they arrived and he totally missed as the man's shoulders had sunk and his whole demeanor had changed almost within a second.

He stepped closer.

"Uhm… Doctor Arden? If you don't mind me asking… has something recently happened in your personal life? Has somebody died or left…?"

"Yes, I do mind it." He looked at Reid and he finally noticed what he had missed a few seconds ago. The man before him wasn't annoyed any more and his pride disappeared. All Reid could see was a broken man. "It's not any of your damn business."

"Dr Arden…" Maggie tried to pick up the interrogation she had left off but the veterinarian cut her off.

"If you excuse me, I have work to do. We are finished here." He said and made his way towards the door. "I'll send you all the names." That was the last thing he had told them before he left.

"Well, I would say that we have our man. What do you think, Spencer? We just need a warrant for the cars and we've got him."

"I'm not so sure…" He had thought so, too, but now he was just confused.

"Are you kidding me?" Maggie seemed sure enough for both of them. "He was a total jerk and literally ran off after we had mentioned the murders. Not to mention that he avoided answering your question about his private life."

"I still think we should check that list first… after all he isn't the only one who's driving those cars."

"Yeah. Whatever." Maggie answered quite rejected, her spirit leaving her. After a little while she looked up at Reid and a small smile appeared on her face. It took Reid a while but finally realized that he had been watched. He looked sheepishly at Maggie.

"What?"

"Nothing… You are just damn adorable when you are thinking." When she saw that the profiler began to blush furiously, she turned around and walked towards the door laughing. "Come on, Spence! We have a list to check and after that I'm ready to hear that I was damn right."

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything._

_Chapter 8_

The greater part of the afternoon and the evening was spent at the police station. As it was, the DVD store proved to be a dead end, much to Emily's dismay, and the employees' list of the animal rescue was at least a mile long. It kept the profilers busy for the rest of the day.

Maggie argued that Jeffrey Arden would be a perfect suspect. Hotch, though accepting her arguments, insisted on the background check of all the employees of Little Paws Animal Rescue. So the day passed on with the profilers at the police station and the patrol officers on the streets of Cayce.

After 11 p.m. and quite a few mugs of coffee, Rossi suggested that they should go and have a little sleep as there wasn't really much to do at the moment other than reviewing the files. And of course, it would make more sense to do it with fresh eyes.

So they finally packed up and went off. Except for Emily. She insisted that she hadn't been tired so she'd rather stay. As the others poured out of the room, Morgan lingered behind a little and finally settled down next to his stubborn girlfriend and grabbed a file.

They worked in silence for another two hours when finally Morgan got bored of Emily's suppressed yawning and stood up declaring that it was the end and that they were going to have a little sleep.

To Morgan's surprise, Emily relented without a word and together they left the station.

-------------------------

"What the hell?" That was the first thing that came into Morgan's mind as he stepped into the hotel with Emily.

When they stepped into the lobby they found themselves in the middle of a well-defined chaos. Despite being the middle of the night the lobby looked like an anthill. People were scattered all around the fairly large room sitting in the sofas and armchairs or around the tables, not to mention the ones who were running from one place to another seemingly without any reason.

It looked downright crazy there.

The two agents stopped right in front of the entrance trying to get around the idea of what they were just seeing.

"Oh boy, you've got to be kidding me!" Emily muttered in disbelief as she took in the sight of the large mass of college students who were chatting, laughing, playing, screaming and running in the lobby.

"What's this? A student hostel? Are you sure that this is our hotel?" Morgan hoped that there had been some mistake in the arrangements.

"Yep." Well, Morgan's hope was shattered.

"Alright then." Morgan sighed. "Let's hope that our rooms are as far away from this area as possible." With that he started towards the reception desk with Emily in tow.

"Hey, what can I do for you guys?" An awfully young and an awfully cheerful boy greeted them as they reached the counter. Emily just rolled her eyes. This whole cheerfulness and liveliness began to go on her nerves. She just wanted a bed and silence.

"This must be a joke!" Morgan snickered bitterly. He just wanted a room to sleep and didn't feel like joking around. "Alright kid, where is the receptionist?"

"That would be me!" The boy straightened with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, of course." He muttered under his breath. "Then this is Agents Prentiss and Morgan. We have a reservation."

"Yes." The boy answered after several seconds of checking the computer. "Rooms 015 and 016. That way." Both agents turned towards the direction the receptionist indicated and groaned in union.

"Nooo way." Emily stated in denial looking at the corridor, which looked worse than the hall and the noises coming from it were unnerving.

"Sorry guys but we're full." The boy looked anything but sorry.

"Great." Morgan noted. "The other agents are in that corridor, too?"

"No." The kid answered. "Let me see… Yes. Agent Jeraue Room 227, Agent Hotchner Room 310, Agent Reid Room 315 and Agent Rossi Room 403. Well, you are the last. They took the better rooms." The boy stated looking up at the agents smiling but it seemed that the two of them didn't find this fact so amusing. The smile slowly disappeared from his face as he stood face to face with the two now very annoyed agents.

"Well, here're the keys." He said timidly. "Have a good night!" Suddenly he seemed very polite.

"Are you kidding?" Emily asked the boy annoyed who quickly turned on his heels and went back where he had come from.

After the boy had disappeared Emily and Morgan shared a desperate look then started towards their rooms resigned.

After fighting their way through the quite busy corridor, they stopped at their doors at the end of it.

"So…" Morgan turned to Emily. "Which room?"

"Well, you go into yours and I go into mine."

"Oh, come on, Emily. It's not as if the others were in the next room." They weren't as they both had noted previously. "They won't see a thing."

"You know that it's not just that. We have an agreement." Her voice was almost stern.

"Alrigth." Morgan sighed resigned then looked at Emily with a mischievous grin on his face. He wasn't afraid of a huffy Emily. "What about a good night kiss?"

Emily just rolled her eyes as a couple of girls left the adjacent room, which could have been a TV room or something like that judged by the sounds coming from it, and walked towards the hall laughing rather loudly… and annoyingly.

"Night, Derek." She said to the man then opened her door and went in. It would be an awfully long night.

Hardly had she stepped into her room when she heard a knock. But it didn't come from the door she had just closed. In spite of her bad mood, a little smile appeared on her face as she saw the door which connected her room to the neighboring one.

"Hey." She answered the door.

"Hey, Beautiful." Morgan greeted her. "Can I have my good night kiss now?" He asked hopefully.

Emily rolled her eyes but stepped into his awaiting arms. It was a slow kiss and when it ended they went on their separate ways with a last smile at each other.

By the time Emily had finished the shower there was complete silence in the other room. However, the life outside the room seemed to be on its height.

Emily sighed as she stopped in front of her bed. This whole day left her deeply disturbed. She couldn't help but take this case too personally. She knew that it was irrational and highly unprofessional but still kept thinking about the fact that she could be easily one of the victims. It was more the unsettling to know that in that case Derek would be one of them, too.

She shook her head and scolded herself for being such a nuisance then turned on her heels and started towards the other room. She stopped by the door, though, which was left open, and looked into the dark room uncertainly.

She was about to break her own rules. But she could live with that, she decided, and climbed into the bed next to Morgan who, feeling the shift of the bed, turned on his back and took his lover into his arms.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked drowsily.

"Nope." Emily answered burying her face into his chest. They just lay there like that for some minute then Morgan heard Emily sigh heavily.

"Talk to me, Em!" He told her gently his voice hardly above a whisper.

For a few seconds it was all quiet again in the room then Emily sighed again.

"It's so bad…" She began sitting up in the bed. If she was about to talk about it, she would do it properly. "They just lived their lives and suddenly somebody decides that they should be punished for it. Somebody out there felt the right to take away their lives… You know… it's frightening that people always can surprise us… There is a case and you'd think that that was it. After that nothing would surprise you… but you are so mistaken because there is the next case… and there is that same thought again… and it'll never end… and you feel as if you were suffocating because you are in a deep dark pit trying to climb up towards the light but you are pushed back every time… Maybe I'm not making a bit of sense… but it enrages me that a sick bastard dares to take the role of God… and it makes me sick just to think that any of those couple could have been us, Derek… Why does somebody find other people's feelings… our feelings… so disgusting that he should kill because of it?"

After she had finished her monologue, she remained sitting in the bed. Morgan was taken aback by her emotions. He knew that she was taking the case really hard but as he was looking at her as she was sitting next to him with watery eyes and a painful expression, he realized that she was not only taking it hard but personally.

"Come here!" He opened his arms then closed it protectively around Emily as she settled down into his embrace. "I love you." He said solemnly and tightened his embrace around her. He couldn't say anything which would have made this easier for her. There was nothing to say… and there was nothing that should have been said because not long after her emotional outburst her breathing became even as she had finally drifted off to sleep. Morgan kissed her head before he closed his eyes, too.

Later that night he woke up suddenly. First he didn't know what could have woken him in the middle of the night… then he felt Emily's hand gripping his arm while she was sitting in the bed.

"Emily?" He asked sleepily and confused but he didn't get any answer even after he had touched her to get her attention. She was just sitting there holding onto his arm with less and less strength, he noted. Other than that she was completely unresponsive. He frowned and turned to turn up the light…

…that was when he saw the dark figure standing in the room…

**TBC **


	9. Chapter 9

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Hey Guys, thank you so much for the reviews I got for the previous chapter. I got more than usual and it made me very happy. Thanks!_

_Chapter 9_

It was still very early in the morning when Hotch emerged from his room. He had at least one and half an hour before the team would meet to go back to the station but he felt as if he'd been suffocating in his room. He needed some space. The lobby of the hotel seemed quite a suitable place to continue what he had done all night. Work. He just hoped that all of the commission that had filled it last night had already been in bed sleeping.

But he was mistaken. As he was descending the stairs he could hear noises from the main area. He frowned… then sighed. Maybe, after all, it would be better to have some noise after the deadly silence of his room.

But once again, he was mistaken and he didn't even know how much…

When he arrived into the lobby an unexpected sight greeted him. There were uniformed officers and CSIs everywhere. It seemed much like the same as last night except the fact that the carefree and cheerful atmosphere of last night was taken over by something more serious. Something graver and darker.

He went to the reception desk to ask somebody what had happened but he was stopped in his track when he saw a group of EMTs rushing out of a nearby corridor pushing a gurney.

And on the gurney was Morgan lying covered in blood.

He ran to the EMTs stopping them by showing his badge.

"Morgan!" He looked at his collogue with concern. He was totally unprepared for this kind of turn in the events. They were here to solve a crime not to get into the middle of another one. He suddenly found himself losing his cool demeanor, which had helped him getting through so many cases before, and he felt fear invading him. Morgan was in bad shape. He was hardly conscious and he seemed to be mumbling incoherently. He was losing it.

"Sir, we have to get him to the hospital." One of the EMTs snapped the very troubled FBI agent out of his thoughts and Hotch suddenly realized that he was just staring at Morgan, effectively hindering the EMTs to do their job and save his friend's life.

"Where are you taking him?" He asked still not taking his eyes off of Morgan's almost unconscious form.

"To Lexington in West Columbia."

Hotch nodded silently then leant in closer to Morgan.

"Hang on in there!" He told him solemnly and was taken by surprise when Morgan turned towards, him his eyes crystal clear. He was too weak, though, and when he tried to say something, which seemed very important to him, his voice came out as a hardly audible whisper.

"Emily." But it was enough for Hotch to understand it. He didn't know what to do with it, though.

He was left stunned in the middle of the busy lobby as the EMTs wheeled Morgan away. Then suddenly he snapped back into his work demeanor and quickly took his way towards Morgan's room. On the way to the room he called Rossi, who not so surprisingly, answered the phone after the first ring.

"Get the others and meet me in Morgan's room! We've got a situation." That was all he said before shut his phone and entered the room.

It was messy. Morgan took up quite a fight but judging from the blood pattern he didn't started with equal chances.

"Can I help you?" An arrogant-looking dumpy middle aged man came up next to Hotch. Even his tone of voice made the usually calm agent snap at him.

"Yes and you can begin by telling me why the hell I wasn't informed about one of my agents being stabbed."

"It's not your case." It was the simple answer of the man and Hotch was about to retort when a voice stopped him.

"Well, Detective Stutton, it's not your case, either. So you can leave my crime scene." It was Maggie who just came from the other room.

"What the hell!" The older man turned towards the young detective. "These days the street cops are telling us what to do, huh?" He looked at her mockingly but Maggie wasn't intimidated by the man. She stepped closer invading his personal space and looked at him defiantly.

"First, I'm a detective. Second, that's my serial killer and I certainly don't need you to hamper me in my investigation. And if you'd excuse us now we have a woman to save. So…"

That was the moment when Hotch's initial amusement by Maggie's 'not-eating-shit' attitude disappeared and he looked up in terror realizing what Morgan just might have meant. Prentiss. She was supposed to stay in the adjacent room. Then where the hell she was now? He took a quick look at the other room but it certainly wasn't in the center of attention so he reached a logical conclusion, at least for himself and in his present state of mind, that Emily apparently had stayed at the police station.

"What the hell you're talking about?" Apparently the older detective didn't know, either, what Maggie was talking about.

"Let's just see… We have a stabbed black male and a missing white female. Does it ring a bell or do you want to dismiss this case as a… let me think… a break-in, for example? That would be so easy, wouldn't it?" Now she was the one mocking.

For a few seconds the detective didn't say anything just stared into Maggie's eyes, who didn't even blink, then a small smile appeared on his face.

"Watch out, Johnson! You'll fall big time and when you do, I'll be there making sure that you get stuck in a conjunction controlling traffic for the rest of your life."

"We'll see about that, Stutton." Maggie said calmly. "And now get your fat ass out of here and screw with someone else!"

Another mocking smile appeared on his face then the detective slowly left the room. Reid and JJ almost bumped into him when they entered the room hastily.

"I'm sorry about that. He was one of those dickheads who wanted to shut me off. He can't wait to see me screwing up."

"It's alright." Hotch said understandingly as the two other agents joined them. "What can you tell me about this mess?"

"It was reported just after 4 a.m. by the receptionist. He claimed that he had heard a gunshot. When the cops got here they found Morgan lying on the floor with multiple stab wounds." JJ took in a sharp breath and looked around in the room for the first time.

"And I suppose you didn't just make up your theory about our unsub. Why are you so sure that it is his work?"

"It's very unlikely that he'd changed his whole scheme." Reid said. "He is too delusional to leave his path of fate. Remember, we said that he considers it his quest to kill. And to kill a certain type of people. In this case mixed race couples."

"He is doing just that." Maggie stated in a no-nonsense tone.

"Why?" Hotch asked again. After all they didn't have any mixed race couples at the moment. It was just Morgan.

"Look around, Hotch!" Rossi appeared from the adjacent room calm as ever. "And take a look at Emily's room! Her bed is untouched. She's never slept in it." Hotch still looked confused and Reid frantically tried to put the picture together. "Emily is missing, Hotch." Rossi stated.

"Oh my God!" JJ exclaimed as she took in the full implication of her friend's statement.

"Have you tried to call her?" The unite chief still tried to dismiss the whole idea of another one of his agents being in trouble.

"It's in the other room. She was here last night. And she slept in this bed… with Morgan."

Hotch was staring at the crumpled bed for a long time trying to grasp the notion of his two agents being in a relationship. When did it happen? Why didn't he know about it? But after all, it didn't matter at all at that moment. His head was starting to ache and it certainly didn't help his processing abilities. He had an injured agent and another one missing. Now that one was for sure, however hard he tried to deny that fact. He decided that he put the sleeping-in-the-same-bed-part away and would deal with it later. Say, when both of his agents could answer for themselves.

"And what about the gunshot?" He asked suddenly. It was a new thing. For all they knew, the unsub had never used a gun before.

"Agent Morgan's gun was fired." Maggie explained. "It was found on the bed. And the EMTs didn't find any gunshot wounds on Agent Morgan."

"So it's either the unsub who got shot… or Emily." Reid concluded.

"We'll know more after the lab has examined the gun." Maggie said.

"Hotch, I'm going to the hospital." JJ told her boss. She wanted to know how Morgan was.

"Take Reid with you." JJ quickly nodded and started towards the door with Reid on her heels. "And JJ… Call if you know anything." And with that the two agents were gone.

"We have to find her, Hotch. We saw what that bastard does to them." Rossi turned to the man who was still looking after the young agents with a troubled expression.

"I know. Detective, did the CSIs find anything new? Something went wrong. There may have been something he hadn't expected."

"Well, they found the reason why he could attack two people by himself."

"And what's that?"

"Ketamine. He dropped the syringe next to the bed."

"So he takes the woman out of the picture first then attacks the man." Rossi summed it up. "Something's strange."

"You are right. That's not the crime scene we saw on the pictures."

"What do you mean?" Maggie asked the agents curiously.

"That Read was right about the crime scenes." Rossi explained. "And that we've made a huge mistake."

"Damn it!" Hotch burst out unexpectedly then stormed out of the room.

"And what now?" Maggie turned back to Rossi.

"We have to make a completely new profile. And we have to do it fast. Emily doesn't have much time."

"Let's go then!"

-------------------------

The drive back to the station was spent in grave silence. Even Maggie didn't dare to say a word, something occurred to her, though.

When they arrived, Hotch went straight to their office not even acknowledging Reid, who was called back from the hospital to help them rebuild the profile.

The three of them looked after the troubled unit chief then Rossi offered to go and talk to him.

"How's Agent Morgan?" Maggie turned to Reid when they stayed alone.

"I don't really know." He replied sadly. "He is still in surgery."

"Everything will be alright, Spence." Maggie said stroking reassuringly the young man's arm. "By the way, I think Agent Prentiss was right about the DVD store after all." Reid looked at her questioningly. "Think about it, Genius Boy! This son of a bitch is after couples, which means he has to pick them out somewhere. Well, I don't know about you but I haven't got the faintest idea about them being together."

"I don't think anybody has."

"You see! And I bet I had more chance to see them together than the unsub ergo the only place where there was a chance that they could bump into him is the DVD store."

"You are right. They were stalked. All the murders and kidnappings happened in Cayce. And the hotel is quite far from that area. He left his comfort zone just because of them… because of Emily… I have to make a call." His phone was already on his ear.

"Hey, Garc…"

"Reid, tell me that Derek is alright!"

"I'm sorry. I'm at the police station at the moment. But I'm sure JJ will call you as soon as she knows something."

"Yeah, yeah…" Garcia said dismissively. These were the times when she hated being home alone. She wanted to be there to wait for the news on Morgan… to help the rest of the team find Emily… She just wanted to hear some comforting words whenever somebody came in the room. She just wanted to see their faces. But instead of that, she was locked into her tiny room waiting for anybody to call her and say something… anything. "What can I do for you, Reid?" Her voice was void of any cheerfulness.

"I need you to do a complete background check on the members of the DVD store, its workers and, as a matter of fact, on anybody who can be connected to that store."

"You'll get it, Baby."

"Oh I don't think that you'll find the employees' name anywhere. I doubt that they are registered. Uhm… Maggie! Can you help me out?" In an instant the folder was in his hands. "The names are Angela Hansen and Peter Hastings. Oh, and Garcia! Would you cross-check it with the animal rescue? There must be a connection between them."

"Anything, just find my Cherry Pie and nail that bastard who did this to them!"

"We are on it Garcia. And thank you!"

"Of course. Bye."

"Bye."

-------------------------

When Rossi entered the room he found Hotch standing in front of the board.

"How could we mess this up so badly, Dave?" He sounded desperate and self-accusing.

"Don't do this, Aaron. It won't help anybody. Especially Emily."

"But everything was here and still…"

"No. We didn't have anything. We had only assumptions. We built up our profile out of assumptions because we hadn't got anything else. And we got it wrong. It happens."

"Yes. And we got Morgan into hospital and Prentiss kidnapped." Now he was bitter and self-accusing.

"As I said it, self-reproach wouldn't help anybody. You know that profiling is not an exact science. There are aspects of human psyche we could not predict. Yes. Morgan got stabbed and only God know what's awaiting Emily but they'll get through it. We all will get through it. But we have to start working…"

Hotch looked at the board for a little longer than turned to his friend who was waiting for him patiently.

"You are right. Let's get that son of a bitch and bring back Prentiss."

"Now you're talking, my friend!"

**TBC**

_I wanted to write something in the unsub's POV but I realized that I suck at it. It was so bad that I decided against it. I hope it'll work without it, too._

_Thanks for reading!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Chapter 10_

_Her eyes pops open in alert. There is somebody in the room. She can feel it. She can hear them move. She sits up suddenly and she has to support herself on her arms as dizziness takes over her.__ As she is blinking to chase away that unexpected feeling, she can see bright colorful dots dancing in front of her in the darkness and she finds it quite amusing. As she tilts her head watching them, she thinks that life would be so much funnier if people could see such little cute dots all the time._

_She wants to show them to Derek__ so she reaches out and grabs his arm… then she doesn't know anymore what she wanted to do with her arm. But she finds it slightly disturbing that it feels heavy… but it's not so disturbing that the fact that the little colorful dots are fading away… she feels upset about it… they are so much fun._

_Then it's dark again._

_She hears movements around her but can't really see anything. Then she opens her eyes. She still can't see anything. A tiny little voice somewhere deep in her mind says that something is very wrong._

_She finds herself__ lying on the bed unable to move. She hears things in the distance but can't really place them… she can't really place herself, either. Where is she? And where are the bright dancing dots?_

_She hears somebody. Yes. And that somebody isn't alone. And again, that disturbing feeling is back again. But she can't really think. She doesn't really want to think. It's quite a funny place where she is at the moment… even though the dancing dots are gone… and she doesn't know where she is… but it's definitely funny to be there._

_But that feeling is there and it forces her to think. So she tries to think… and she remembers Derek. She can hear him. But he isn't speaking to her… he is… struggling… with the somebody… because one needs somebody to struggle with… and she could here somebody… right?_

_She begins to panic when it fully dawns on her foggy mind that something is clearly wrong. She tries to move but she can't. She feels heavy. Finally she manages to move her head. It's just a couple of millimeters but it's enough for her to spot two figures in the dark._

_Derek__ is fighting with somebody… and Emily is fighting with herself. Strangely, the sudden sense of danger kicks her mind back to work. She has to help Derek… she has to move… she has to find out something… it's quite unlikely that she can jump the attacker… the gun… she doesn't know where this idea came from… under Derek's pillow… but it seems a fairly good idea…_

_If only she could move her arm…_

_She gathers all of her strength, both mental and physical, and tries to concentrate on her quite uncooperative limb. First she finds her fingers. That's good. Now she is sure that she can do it. She just has to concentrate…_

_Then she feels metal in her unsteady hand and then there is a shot… It's so loud that she winces… she feels herself drifting… she fights it… she wants to stay awake… she wants to ask Derek if he is alright…_

…_then everything becomes dark…_

_When she opens her eyes, she can feel the bed moving under her… then it stops… she tries to move… she can't… she is drifting off…_

…_she is blinking slowly… everything seems blurry… and her bed disappeared… she blinks once again… she can see blue… ice-cold blue… she shivers…_

Her eyes popped open suddenly and she winced in pain.

-------------------------

JJ was standing by the window watching the world go on its usual course. She was so tired that she could feel it even in her limbs. But she was alert. Heavy limbs or not, she just couldn't sit in one place. Her mind was too worked up to be still.

Fortunately Morgan was out of surgery and the doctor told her that he would be alright. But somehow JJ doubted it. If they didn't manage to find Emily, she doubted that Morgan would be alright ever. She didn't know what was between her two friends but she knew them well enough to know that they wouldn't have gone into a relationship of any kind if they hadn't feel something deep for each other.

She sighed sadly. How could somebody have done this to them?

She heard Morgan stir so she turned and went to stand next to his bed. He mumbled something before he opened his eyes but JJ couldn't be sure what. As he tried to focus his hazy vision on JJ's face, she smiled at him reassuringly and happy to see him awake.

"Hey!" She said gently.

"Emily?" He asked his eyes still not focused enough.

"No." JJ answered. "It's me. JJ."

It took him for a while but finally he managed to process the meaning of the words.

"JJ." He said wincing in pain or just trying to stay focused. "Emily?" He asked again. "She… she was… there… with me."

"We know. But…" She knew that Morgan must have known it already but it didn't make it easier to tell him that they didn't know where his girlfriend was. She took a deep breath. "We are looking for her, Derek. We'll find her." She tried to reassure both Morgan and herself.

Morgan looked away and JJ was taken aback when she saw a tear drop running down his face. She had never seen him like that before. She felt her eyes become watery, too, and she quickly grabbed his hand.

"Look at me, Derek!" She told him and slowly he obeyed. She looked into his eyes and gathered all of her optimism and confidence. "We will find her and we will bring her back." And while Morgan was drifting off to a restless sleep, she silently prayed that she had not just told a lie.

-------------------------

"Derek?" Emily felt disoriented and strangely weak as she woke up in alarm. She didn't quite know why she had woken up in the middle of the night and she felt inexplicably uneasy about it. "Derek?" She tried again when she hadn't got any answers, but there was only silence again. Deadly silence…

…then it hit her. She wasn't in the hotel room anymore and the gravity of her situation made her alert at once.

That and the fact that she was shivering with cold.

She slowly took in her surrounding as much as she could in the dark with her still not completely clear mind. It wasn't a difficult task. She was in a windowless dark room tied up with a chain which made her wrists hurt like hell, she realized. Her knees were aching, too, because of her position on the hard floor. It was cold and dump, her shorts and tank-top did little to keep her warm.

And now it was not only the cold which made her shiver. She felt tears fill her eyes and flow down on her cheeks. She was frightened. Suddenly she felt lost and hopeless. Alone. She argued that the team would find her… that Morgan would not stop till she was back with him… that everything would be alright… Then she stopped suddenly, only the shivering persisting. Derek… She had a fairly good guess where she was and that meant that Derek had been already dead… She felt the tears choking her and she cried out in despair. Derek was dead and the team would not come, simply because they didn't know who they should come after… she was left alone to face her death in the dark…

Then she heard movements and a pair of ice cold blue eyes appeared in front of her blurry vision. She remembered those eyes but now they were different… They were filled with pure hatred.

She shivered but she didn't cry anymore. No. He didn't deserve to see her like that. She straightened in her position on the floor, effectively kneeling in front of the dark figure but she was staring at him with defiance… She would be strong…

…then a sharp wave of pain ran through her body as the whip made contact with her back…

**TBC**

_Thanks for reading it__… and stay with me!_


	11. Chapter 11

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Chapter 11_

After Hotch had realized that his initial attitude towards the morning's events had been quite unproductive, he switched gear and by noon he was simply impossible to stop. He was working on 110 percent and sometimes even Reid found it hard to keep up with him. It seemed that they were doing at least three things at the same time. They've already sent for the employees of the DVD store and Jeffrey Arden and they were working on the new profile while trying to eliminate the possible suspects from the animal rescue's employee list. Rossi was on the point to express his opinion on the impossibility of the present situation when Hotch's phone began to ring.

"JJ, what's up?" Hotch asked the woman on the other end of the line. They've already spoken once when Morgan came out of surgery and was in and out of consciousness. They'd also sent her what they had so far. It wasn't much but at least they knew that it was Emily who had fired Morgan's gun. Unfortunately the bullet missed the unsub and was found in the wall.

"I just wanted you to know that Morgan woke up… and he seems eager to go and kill the unsub with his bare hands." Her voice was considerably better than earlier and it made the unit chief feel better as well.

"Have you spoken with him?"

"Not quite. I've just managed to put him back in bed and made him promise to stay there. He wants to know, though, where you stand with the case. He wouldn't be still till he knows something."

"We are working on it, JJ. Believe me. We are working on it." He didn't know what to say. He couldn't say what Morgan wanted to hear and any reassurance would only sound empty. "Call if he told you anything."

"Alright." She heard JJ sigh heavily. He couldn't blame her, though, he wasn't the one who had to sit with Morgan trying to persuade him to stay still for once in his life while Emily was out somewhere with their unsub. "Bye."

"Bye, JJ." Hardly had he closed the phone when he turned back to his colleagues to give them further instructions. Rossi cut in, though.

"Look, Hotch. We can't do this. It's insane. We are working on two things at the same time. It's just not right. If it wasn't Emily out there, we would sit here calmly discussing the case and we would have the unsub by nightfall. But this…" He indicated to the mountains of files and photos on the desk. "It's not the way we work."

For a while Hotch didn't say a word just sank down into his chair and buried his face into his hands. The others looked at him expectantly hoping that Rossi hadn't sent him back to his previous attitude.

"You are right." He told him calmly when he finally looked up. "That's insane." He looked at the desk deep in thoughts as if it alone would help him solve the case. "Alright. We reorganize."

A ghost of smile appeared on the others' faces.

-------------------------

JJ closed her phone with a sigh and started towards Morgan's room. He was sitting on his bed looking completely miserable. It wasn't enough that his girlfriend was taken by the unsub but he was unable to do anything to find her. Not to mention that he must be in great pains after the surgery.

"You can help, you know." JJ stated gently while sitting down next to the bed knowing full well what he was going through at the moment. After all he was a man of action.

Something like a little smile appeared on Morgan's face as he turned towards her with a grateful look. "Just tell me what happened." JJ continued with a reassuring smile. She could see him tense up and instead of an answer he asked back.

"What did Hotch say?" JJ took in a deep breath.

"They are working on it, Morgan. They won't stop until they find her." She sounded sure about it. After all, neither of them would stop until Emily was found. The only question was whether she would be still alive by then.

"I should be there doing my job and not lying in bed." He sounded frustrated about the situation. "Emily needs me, damn it."

"Yes, she does. And what you can do for her is to tell me what happened yesterday night. So, what happened?"

"I don't know." He shook his head thinking back to the night. "There wasn't anything strange… or we were just too tired to notice anything. I don't know. I remember Emily coming into my room and then we talked a little and went to sleep. The next thing I remember is Emily gripping my arm. She must have noticed something… but I didn't. I haven't noticed a damn thing." His frustration was slowly taken over by anger. He was angry at himself for being so careless. He was a good agent for God's sake and yet he let Emily be taken from right next to him.

"Morgan, look at me." JJ told him gently. It was sad to see him so broken. "It wasn't your fault. He had already done it four times. There was nothing you could have done. It's a miracle that you are alive. You hear me?" She waited patiently for any reaction from the man sitting in the bed. Morgan nodded slowly. "Good. So what happened next?"

"Emily wouldn't answer me… it was dark but she seemed strange… I don't know… as if she had been still asleep."

"She was sedated. She must have been completely out of it before the drug kicked in and she finally passed out." She explained.

"She wanted to tell me that something was wrong?"

"It's possible." JJ agreed then continued. The faster they finish the better for her colleague. "So you'd been already up when he attacked you?" Morgan nodded.

"We thought that he was a well-built man but he wasn't that strong. In fact he was smaller than me…" Morgan frowned trying to remember as many things as possible. "But he surprised me and managed to stab me. Then we were struggling… I didn't even have time to look at Emily to check if she was alright. I think I didn't even hear her. But then… there was a shot… I don't know where it came from… I was hardly conscious by that time."

"It was Emily. Somehow she managed to grab your gun and fire it."

Morgan didn't say anything at that. He just stared in front of him. Emily saved him. He couldn't have hold on much longer. If it hadn't been for that fired gun, he would be dead.

"You know this attack was unlike the other ones." JJ wondered out loud to get back Morgan's attention. "It was messy and he didn't get to finish his job. You said that he wasn't that strong. It must have been harder for him that he had found you awake. And then Emily shot at him…"

"He had to hurry." Morgan concluded silently. "Anybody could have heard the shot."

"Look, I have to call Hotch and tell him this. They are trying to make a new profile." With that JJ quickly stood up and turned to leave the room.

"Any of those couples could have been us…" JJ stopped when she heard Morgan's low voice and looked back at him. Morgan met her questioning eyes. "She said this yesterday… before we went to sleep. Any of those couples could have been us…"

JJ felt her eyes fill with tears. She quickly went back to Morgan and hugged him tightly to herself. He remained passive, though, just staring in front of him once again. She could feel his tensed muscles in his shoulders. She kissed his head tenderly.

"You should rest. I'll be right back." She told him then left Morgan alone with his troubled thoughts.

He was sitting in bed for a little longer then pushed the cover to the side and began to get out of bed. It wasn't an easy task as his stitches were aching like hell, but he'd be damned if he'd been lying any longer without actually doing something to find Emily...

**TBC**

_I'm sorry for the delay but I got sidetracked as you might have seen it… I hope I didn't make Morgan very OOC__, if I did, sorry for that, too. And for the mistakes, too… I'm sorry for a lot of thing, am I not? Anyway, thanks for reading!!! I'm glad that you are still here with me._


	12. Chapter 12

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Chapter 12_

After they had rearranged their working system, Hotch and the rest of the team split up into two groups. Maggie and Reid went to question Angela Hansen and Peter Hastings while Rossi and Hotch stayed behind to work on the profile. Without any conclusive evidence only the profile gave them any chance to catch the unsub and find Emily. They had also called in Jeffrey Arden but for now the two young employees of the DVD store had more importance in the investigation.

"JJ." Hotch answered his phone while putting it on speaker. "Give us something."

"Well… Morgan couldn't tell me much but it's for sure that the unsub isn't a well-built man. He said that the guy was smaller than him. I think it caught him off-guard to find Morgan awake. He must have lost his advantage over him and it threw off all his plans. Not to mention the gun… But you are the profi… Oh no… I can't believe it." Rossi and Hotch looked at each other puzzled hearing JJ's change of tone. "Uh, guys, I have to go. Call me if you know anything." She hadn't even waited for a goodbye before she hung up.

For a little while there was silence in the room as both men tried to fit the new piece of information into the whole picture, however small it was. It seemed quite a difficult task. How could a not at all strong man subdue all his victims who had been much more muscular than him?

"Don't you have the feeling that we have two unsubs here?" Rossi spoke up finally. "What if we had the first profile right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look at those photos." The older agent indicated to the crime scene photos of the first four murders. "Those are the works of the man who fits the first profile. He is organized. He is strong enough to be able to kill the men with as little mess as it was possible."

"You're saying that the man who attacked Morgan was another person and not our unsub?" It sounded quite absurd and even Rossi frowned hearing that theory. That just wouldn't make any sense. Even if they didn't have any evidence that there was only one unsub, or two as that, the man was much too egoistic and too self-assured to have even the least of help. His mission was his own and nobody could share it.

"I know how it sounds but how can you explain what happened in the hotel? That mess there was the work of a man who wasn't in control… And our unsub? He has the control. He could have subdued Morgan. He had already done that before and if that guy really is a scrawny little bastard, he couldn't have done what he had done to the other victims not even with the advantage of surprise."

"I don't know, Dave." Hotch was clearly skeptical. "Let's just suppose that we have another unsub. And with that I mean another one completely independent from the first one. What are the chances that he attacks two FBI agents… and he works with an MO which is exactly like our unsub's?"

"A copycat? A coincidence?"

Hotch wanted to continue arguing with Rossi's theory, though he knew well that his colleague was aware of the fact, too, that he was only fishing in the dark, they both were, but his phone cut him off.

"Yes, Penelope?"

"Oh, is it that bad?" Garcia asked his boss timidly from the other end of the line. "You only call me by my first name if something is really bad." Instead of an answer, she could hear Hotch sigh, so she quickly continued in typical Garcia-fashion, not wanting to hear the truth. "By the way, Reid asked me to look for anything and anybody and to look it everywhere and now I'm doing just that and I'm not finished yet, I'm not even close but I've found something which could be of interest."

"Now everything can be helpful, Garcia."

"Well, I took a look at Jeffrey Arden's bank accounts and I found out that he's just recently closed a shared account he had opened with a certain woman, named Christine Hammond. So I dug deeper because I had a gut feeling and it turned out that I was right. Christine was his fiancée. It seems that they were quite serious. They had sent out the invitation cards, they had booked a chapel and a restaurant… but they had never got their fairy-tale ending. The wedding was cancelled."

"And it is important because?"

"Because I happen to know that Christine Hammond bought a house not so long ago and she didn't buy it by herself. She has a co-owner called Joshua Williams. And here is the interesting part. He is Afro-American."

"Thank you, Garcia." And with that Hotch hung up while turning to Rossi. "We have to talk with Jeffery Arden."

------------------------

Maggie and Reid stepped out of the interrogation room with identical frowns on their faces. They had just talked with Angela Hansen and apart from frightening the poor girl to death and finding out that Peter Hastings was a socially awkward cute boy, they couldn't get any closer to find out who their unsub could be.

"I can't believe it." Maggie turned to Reid after they had closed the door behind them. "There has to be something in that store. Where else could the unsub see Morgan and Prentiss together?"

"Well, they were here together…" Reid began. "But I think we can be sure in stating that they hadn't done anything to even remotely suggest their relationship."

"Well, that one is for sure. After all even you, profilers, didn't know about anything."

"Yes. They are quite good at hiding." Reid answered bitterly which made Maggie furrow her brows.

"Come on, Genius." She patted his shoulder friendlily then started towards the other room. "Even you can't know everything."

Reid just sighed and followed Maggie with his hands in his pocket. They stopped in front of the interrogation room and Maggie turned to Reid again.

"You know, he could see them in the hotel."

"He could but it is highly unlikely. I doubt that he had left his comfort zone just to look for a new couple."

"Yeah, I knew that." Suddenly she sounded somehow less enthusiastic then before. But she quickly changed her demeanor and took up a bright face. "But fortunately here is Peter Hasting… Maybe he can tell us something." Reid was completely amazed by the young woman.

And Maggie hadn't ceased to amaze him just yet as when they entered the room and found it completely empty, Maggie stormed out of the room without missing a beat and practically shouted her question into the bullpen.

"Where the hell is Peter Hastings?" Man, she was angry, Reid thought as he stayed in the background to let Maggie let out the steam.

The busy bullpen froze in an instant and every eye was on the clearly pissed off detective.

"You mean the dumb boy who couldn't even say a sentence without starting it again three times?" The short middle-aged man, who came up to them with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, was vaguely familiar to Reid but he couldn't really place his face.

"Yes, Stutton, that boy." Maggie hissed, his mere presence making her more annoyed then before.

"I sent him home." He stated simply.

"What?" Maggie asked incredulously not believing what she had just heard.

"We needed the room, Johnson, and I seriously doubt that the boy could put a whole sentence together which would actually make any sense."

Reid winced when he saw Maggie turn away form the man frustrated her fists clenched. The emotion he saw on her face was one he had only seen on one person's face. Usually Morgan looked that way when he really wanted to beat the crap out of somebody and the only thing which held him back was the agent in him. Well, at that moment he could bet that the only thing that held Maggie back from seriously harming the older detective was the officer in her.

"You are really that incompetent or you're just fucking with me?" She asked the man after she had turned back to him.

"Come on, Johnson, you can't seriously think that that kid has anything to do with that case. I seriously doubt that he could recognize a murder even if it was happening right in front of his eyes. I'm just helping you saving time here, Johnson. You don't even have to say thank you." His mocking smirk was still in place on his face and Maggie couldn't bear it any longer. She clenched her fists and made a move to jump the annoying detective but suddenly she felt somebody grabbing her shoulders from behind holding her back.

"You don't want to do it, Maggie." She heard Reid's low voice. "He isn't worth it."

Reid felt Maggie's tense muscles slowly relax under his hands but he didn't let her go. Instead, he brought his hand lower and now he was holding her by her arms still trying to sooth her somewhat.

"Just remember one thing, Stutton." Maggie looked at the detective with narrowed eyes, her voice was filled with venom. "If it turns out that the boy knew something or has anything to do with my case, I'll go any length to see you go down because of it."

"Of course, Johnson, of course…" And with that the man turned around and walked away.

Maggie and Reid stayed in their position standing close to each other.

"Thank you." Reid could hear Maggie's whisper. "I would have just made him a favor."

That was the moment when Reid became aware of his closeness to Maggie so he quickly pulled back his hands and stepped back. He was standing behind the young detective awkwardly looking anywhere but at her. Maggie sensed his uneasiness and when she turned around there was a kind smile on her face.

"Hey, Spencer." She tried to make the young doctor look at her but he was quite persistent in avoiding her gaze. She slowly reached up and put a hand on his cheek which was burning red. She let out a quick giggle which actually made Reid look at her then she leant closer and put a kiss on his cheek. "Thanks again."

That was when they heard somebody clearing their throat. Maggie stepped back letting out a not so subtle 'damn it' and looked towards the noise fully expecting Detective Stutton to be standing there.

But it was Hotch and Rossi who she found.

"Um… Agent Hotchner… David." She greeted them with a somewhat embarrassed smile. "What can I do for you?"

The two agents looked bemused and if it had been another time Rossi would sure had had some remark for the young doctor who was still standing quite stunned and embarrassed.

"We are on our way to question Dr Arden." Hotch informed Maggie.

"Well, good luck with that. He is a real jerk." The last remark was muttered just for herself but Hotch raised an eyebrow nonetheless. "By the way, we are out of here. Stutton's just sent Hasting home so we have to go after him."

"Alright, we meet up after that. I hope we'll have more information by then." Maggie nodded seriously finally returning back to her professional mode. The two older agents began to walk by but Rossi, not really being able to keep back his snarky self, turned back.

"Hey, Maggie. Do something with the poor boy. Kick him or kiss him, I don't mind, just snap him out of it." He winked at her then continued his way after Hotch.

In return Maggie gave him a smile then turned to Reid.

"Hey, Genius Boy." She tried to get his attention but didn't manage. "Hey…" She tried again this time clicking her fingers in front of his face but again she got no reaction. She sighed annoyed while rolling her eyes then leant closer and kissed the boy soundly on the lips.

When she pulled back, she smiled satisfied as Reid seemed to have returned back to Earth.

"Why did you do that?" He asked Maggie incredulously. She just rolled her eyes again.

"Well, I didn't really want to kick you." She said matter-of-factly. "Now come, we have to find Hastings." With that she turned and began to walk away… and Reid followed.

**TBC**

_Well, it took me long enough… I hope you liked it, though._

_Thanks for reading!!!_


	13. Chapter 13

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything connecting to the show._

_I'm sorry for the late update but I managed to write you a rather long chapter. So, enjoy!_

_Chapter 13_

JJ slammed the car door angrily. She still couldn't believe that Morgan was stupid enough to leave the hospital not long after his surgery. It wasn't the fact that he would have not listened to her that bothered the blond agent. It was the fact that he was in great pains. It didn't matter how hard he tried to hide it, she could still see how hard it was for him even just to breath. And yet he was out of the hospital ready to take down their unsub if he was given the chance.

She waited for him to get out of the car then she darted towards the entrance of the police station not even bothering to look behind her. She was pissed off after all and if Morgan wanted to tear open his stitches then he could knock himself out.

She found their makeshift office empty so she turned around to leave the room and ask somebody about her colleagues. After having found out about the others' whereabouts, she looked around in the bullpen searching for Morgan. She rolled her eyes when she finally found him not so far away from the entrance leaning against a desk. That was why she had insisted on him staying in the hospital. But, of course, he had known better. The people around him were giving him strange looks given that he was still wearing his hospital gown.

Seeing her friend's struggle to stay focused, not to mention to stay on his two feet, JJ finally took pity on him and when she stepped next to Morgan only concern was written all over her face.

"Hey…" She told him gently. "You just have to say it and we are on our way back to the hospital."

"JJ…" He started looking at her with eyes shadowed by pain.

"I know." She gave him a little smile then changed the subject. "Hotch and Rossi are in interrogation room 4. We can go and take a look. At least you can sit down there."

Morgan just nodded then JJ stepped closer and put her arm around his waist to help him walk the distance to the interrogation room. They were almost there when they saw Hotch leave the room frustrated. It didn't take him for long to spot them and when he did, he just shook his head and walked up to them. He didn't seem surprised at all.

"How's it going?" Morgan asked the unit chief anxiously.

"Well, when Detective Johnson said that the man was a jerk, I thought she was exaggerating." He answered with a sigh.

"Did he say anything? Is he the unsub? Does he know where Emily is?"

"Morgan…" Hotch stopped Morgan. "Slow down! You shouldn't even be here."

"Come on, Man. Don't start it! I've already heard all of it from JJ. I can't lie in bed and do nothing. I have to be here."

For a little while Hotch was just looking at him as if trying to decide what to do then his gaze shifted to JJ, who just shrugged. Finally Hotch sighed resigned. He was too tired for this and they really had more important things to do than argue about something which had already been decided. The unit chief showed them into the room to observe the interrogation, which was apparently stuck. Rossi was standing with his back to Dr Arden staring into the mirror while the man was sitting behind the desk clearly annoyed and impatient.

"Dr Arden is quite uncooperative." Hotch told the other two agents. "If we want to talk about his personal life, he retreats into a shell and if we want to talk about his professional life, he becomes an asshole. He is clearly troubled. As far as we know, he could be our unsub. But he hasn't said anything so far. Rossi is trying to break through to him."

* * *

On the other side of the window Rossi was trying to find a way to make Jeffrey Arden talk and when he finally decided on his further strategy, he turned around and looked at the man pointedly.

"You know, Dr Arden, I've got tired of your attitude so I think it's time to change the roles. Seeing that you are not willing to talk, I'll do the talking. You don't have to do anything, just listen." The man just looked at him, his face expressionless. Rossi continued. "You are a successful man, Dr Arden. You are self-conscious, you know what you want and you always get it. It was always that way. You are an only child whose parents separated. I assume you stayed with your mother after the separation. You got used to always having the last word, didn't you? So when the love of your life decided to leave you, you became furious. It wasn't you who had ended the relationship, was it? You hadn't got a word in that matter… and you couldn't accept it. And then she found somebody else. A black man, nonetheless. Now, tell me, Dr Arden, how much did that piss you off?"

Rossi was leaning on the table across from the blond man staring intently into his icy blue eyes, which hadn't mirrored his previous annoyance anymore. As Hotch had said it, he drew back into a shelter.

There was complete silence in the room for a long time. All the while the two men did not even blink.

"You don't know the first thing about me, Agent." Dr Arden's voice was low and Rossi imagined it sounding sad. "Yes, I like if things happen the way I want them to happen. But who doesn't?" They were still staring at each other. "But I respect the people living around me and I certainly loved Christie. God knows, I still love her. But she has made a decision and I respect that… so, please, if there is anything you want to talk about, other than my private life, do it or let me go."

Rossi straightened up with a ghost of a smirk on his face then sat down across Jeffrey Arden. Now they could begin talking.

* * *

"I don't get it." Morgan noted frowning at the pain in his torso. "That man has the motive to kill those couples. He certainly could do it. He has access to all the necessary devices… But it wasn't him, Hotch. He didn't take Emily. It wasn't him."

"We know it." Hotch told him not taking his eyes off of the happenings in the interrogation room. And he didn't say anything further, either.

The tension and frustration was palpable in the room and the silence that had settled down on it didn't help, either. JJ was taking worried glances at her injured friend, who looked worse and worse by the minute, but she didn't say anything. Hotch was staring in front of him helplessly while Morgan was trying hard to ignore his pain.

Suddenly Hotch's phone began to ring, effectively snapping everybody out of their dark thoughts.

"Hotchner." The unit chief answered the small device gravely and when he heard his young computer tech's voice, he put it on speaker. "Tell me, you found something, Garcia."

"I found something, Sir." She said with mock seriousness trying to lighten the presumably dark mood. "But first thing's first. Am I on speaker, Sir?"

"Yes, you are."

"Alright then." She said satisfied. "And now, Derek Morgan…" Her somewhat playful tone changed considerably. "…listen to me very carefully! If you don't lift up your sorry and presumably very naked butt in this precise moment and take it back to the hospital where that butt of yours should be, I swear to God that I'll be on the next plane and I will be the one who'll do it for you. And you can rest assured that after that, you'll wish that the unsub had made a more thorough job. Am I understood?"

Garcia's voice made even Hotch stand straighter.

"Come on, Baby Girl, at least you could give me a break." Morgan pleaded with the blond woman weakly. He was too exhausted to argue with her, too.

"Don't baby-girl me, Derek Morgan!" She told the dark man sternly. "I'm serious."

"Alright, alright." He gave in finally hoping that his baby girl would leave it at that. He would not leave until Emily was found.

"Good." She did leave it at that and Morgan closed his eyes relieved. "That said, I have some news."

"We are listening, Garcia."

"Well, I was making that search Reid asked me to do and I didn't really come up with anything useful so I began to think logically then when I failed miserably I began to think illogically and I thought that I was completely wasting my time but I did it nonetheless so I… I think I can't really follow myself… but anyway I was doing random crosschecking and I really thought that I was screwed when I finally found something." When Garcia stopped, JJ sighed in relief. At least her friend wouldn't die of loss of oxygen.

Hotch didn't seem relieved, though. He was pensive.

"You found what, Garcia?"

"Oh, I didn't say it?" JJ let out a little chuckle at that and even Morgan let himself a little smile. The unit chief's face, however, remained expressionless. "Jeffrey Arden has a brother. A half-brother, at least. His name is Peter Hastings."

All heads shot up in the room at the new piece of information and Hotch was immediately on the phone.

"Reid. Did you get Peter Hastings?" The unit chief asked sternly.

"Um… Not really…" Came the reply but not through the phone. Everybody was looking at the door which was now open as Reid and Maggie stepped in. "There was nobody at home." Reid explained somewhat unsure of the sudden interest.

"Yes, and I really doubt that anybody had been in that apartment lately." Maggie added seemingly unaware of the unusual attention. "My apartment is cleaner than that one." She added frowning.

"You went in?" JJ asked them surprised. After all, they went there only to talk to Peter Hastings. The last thing they had with them was a court order to enter the house without the permission of the owner.

"Well…" Maggie smiled at the blond agent mysteriously. "Let's just say that I have an incredibly beautiful smile."

"Um… Guys? What's the problem?" Reid finally asked the others. He really didn't like the expression on the face of his boss. "Morgan?" He finally noticed the injured agent. "What are you doing here?"

"Leave it alone, Kid. Alright?" He replied really not feeling up to another lecture about his decision. "I'm going in." He stated as if it had been the most natural thing on Earth and he hadn't been in a hospital gown fresh out of surgery.

"No. You are not." Hotch's voice sounded commanding. "I will talk with him." And with that he was out of the door.

* * *

"Dr Arden!" Hotch stepped into the room. "Where is your brother now?"

The man looked at the agent as if he had grown another head. And so did Rossi. He hadn't got the faintest idea why Hotch had decided to barge on the interrogation he had left so suddenly, but he stepped back and let the unit chief take over.

Dr Arden didn't answer, though. He just looked at Hotch clearly not understanding why his brother had been mentioned at all.

"I'll ask again, Dr Arden. Where is your brother now?" Hotch's voice was dangerously measured as he looked at the man in front of him.

"Why are you asking me this? Pete has nothing to do with any of this."

"Well, certainly that was the reason when you didn't mention him among those who have access to the vehicle of the animal rescue."

"Look, he has already had enough problems. He doesn't need the police to be after him because of something he has nothing to do with."

"Well, Dr Arden." Rossi stepped up again. "Would you tell me whether your brother showed any sign of aggression in the past towards Afro-Americans?"

"He has certain views that I don't share but…"

"Did he act on his views? Did he harm anybody because of their skin color?" Now Dr Arden really looked stunned. It was clear for the profilers that the man was beginning to put the pieces together, but he wasn't willing to accept it.

"There was that man… about eight months ago." Dr Arden began looking in front of him while remembering the events. "He claimed that Pete had beaten him up. My brother didn't deny anything and the man wanted to report him. Then Pete told me that he was the man who had been driving the other car that night… that night when our mother had died… and Pete's father. So finally we managed to reach an agreement out of court." That was the point when his head snapped up and he looked straight into Hotch's eyes. "What you are implying… I can't believe it… I couldn't believe it back then. He is a good boy. He just had a hard time coping with certain events."

"For example your fiancé leaving you for a black guy?" Rossi asked the man curiously.

"Yes." The man answered him. "He knew how hard it had been for me to accept the fact that Christie had left me. He knew how much I loved her. He was furious but that's understandable. We are very close, you know. We always have been but since our mother's death, we are more so. He is my little brother for God's sake!"

"Where is he?" Hotch returned to the previous question eager to be out of the door to catch the boy as it had become certain that he was their unsub. "We couldn't find him in his apartment."

"He doesn't leave there anymore. He moved in with me after we had lost Mom. He goes back there sometimes but he doesn't live there."

Hotch and Rossi looked at each other then without any further ado they left the room. On the corridor they met the others, who were already on the move. Even Morgan.

"And what the hell are you thinking?" Hotch stopped the younger agent.

"I'm going to catch that bastard who took Emily then I'm bringing my girl back." He stated simply.

"Morgan…" JJ tried to talk with him… to reason with him to go back to the hospital and that they would take care of everything else but apparently Hotch had gotten quite annoyed and pulled his boss card.

"You are going back to the hospital, Morgan." He particularly commended and before Morgan could even open his mouth to argue, he continued. "At this moment I really don't give a shit, Morgan. I am your supervisor so I am the one who is giving the orders and you are the one who is obeying them." With that the unit chief left with the others following him. Only JJ and Rossi stayed behind. The media liaison was clearly worried about him and didn't really want to leave him alone. Rossi, on the other hand, just wanted him to understand so that they wouldn't have to worry while looking for Emily.

"Look, Derek." He stepped closer to him. "If you really want to help Emily, you are going back to the hospital and let us do our job. In this condition you are just making it harder. And your arguing doesn't help, either. We'll take good care of Emily. We won't let anything happen to her, I promise."

After a few seconds Morgan nodded slowly.

"Alright." JJ stepped closer to him, too. "I'll find you an officer to take you back." She told Morgan then turned to Rossi. "I'll be out in a second."

They parted and by the time JJ got out to the others, they had already been sitting in the SUVs ready to go. She got in next to Rossi.

"Where is Maggie?" She asked looking around.

"She went back to Hasting's apartment in case he showed up there."

* * *

_The tires of the black SUV were screeching on the asphalt as Special Agent Aaron Hotchner took the turn by the traffic lamps. The cars in front of him hurriedly pulled out of his way as he pushed the gas even harder… and Reid next to him held the handrail even tighter._

_They didn't have even a second to waste…_

_They didn't have time for any hesitation…_

_They had to get that son of a bitch… and they had to save her._

_Hardly had he stopped the car in front of the unsub's house, when he jumped out of it closely followed by Reid. He faintly heard the other SUV pull up behind him and he heard dogs barking. But it all faded into the background. His mind was somewhere else._

_He knew that it was wrong. He knew that he should pay attention to the SWAT team as they took up their position around the house ready to attack… He knew that he should tell Reid to follow him and that he should tell his other two agents to go to the other side of the house… But they all knew what they had to do._

_He couldn't help thinking about the woman whom they came to rescue… one of their own… and only God knows if they would find her alive… If they would find her at all._

_They had to catch that bastard._

_He knew, too, that he shouldn't be a part of this operation… probably neither of them should… But he had to… and so did the others._

_As he stood by the door with his gun drawn and ready to raid the house, he sent up a quick prayer for their friend inside the house… and for their friend who was lying in the hospital waiting for the woman to return…_

**TBC**

_Well, back to the beginning… or to the end?_

_Thanks for reading and sorry for the mistakes!_


	14. Chapter 14

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I still don't own anything._

_Chapter 14_

Emily clenched her teeth as the lash once again made a sharp contact with her now bare back. Her tears stopped falling a long time ago and now only the agonizing pain remained. And apart from that pain, her eyes were empty, too. She stopped feeling a long time ago…

…and she stopped thinking even earlier.

First she tried to think about something else rather than her current predicament but she had to realize that it just made things even worse. Her thought always wandered back to Morgan but the soothing memories of their time together was always chased away by that simple fact that they would probably never see each other again.

She even tired to stay optimistic… but she failed miserably. She had always been a rational woman and she was good at seeing things as they really were. This, of course, didn't help her case, either, and she found herself wishing for that cheerful, easy-going, hopelessly positive point of view on life that Garcia had made so perfectly of her own…

And that brought her back to the fact that there was no way out for her. She knew that her team was the best and she was sure that her friends wouldn't stop till they find her but if there was nothing available to go by, then even they were not able to do anything… And maybe that was for the best. She knew that she probably shouldn't be thinking that way but if she had to go then that was the best time to go… with Derek.

Then her captor left and with that a little hope returned to her. She tried to get free from the chains which had already cut through her flesh but all of her efforts, which sent fresh waves of pain through her body again and again, were in vain and finally she slumped down on her knees completely exhausted. She cried then. For the first time since the unsub entered the room. Slowly she cried herself into a restless sleep from which she was finally woken by a sharp kick into her ribs.

That was when she got herself rid of every feeling and every thought. She let the pain take over hoping that it would be over soon…

* * *

Hotch steadied his grip on his gun then looked at Reid behind him. They were ready to go in and with a nod at the man in front of him, they were inside the house.

It seemed for him as if everything had happened in slow motion and as they covered more and more from the house, time seemed to stop completely. It was unnerving and every single second passing by made his heart beat faster, every single "Clear!" coming up from the different parts of the building made his stomach knot even tighter with fear. Are they too late? Have they made a mistake?

It seemed like forever until the whole building was cleared and once again Hotch was standing in front of a door, the last unopened door in the house, ready to go in.

This time Rossi was next to him, and again, with a nod they opened the door and began the long way down the dark stairs…

**TBC**

_Thanks for reading!__ I know that it was short but for me it seemed whole this way. I promise that the last chapter will be longer!_

_Thank you for the reviews, Guys! I loved them!_


	15. Chapter 15

**Hatred**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Well, it was a long time ago but here is the last chapter… I hope you are still interested… and sorry if this chapter seems a little out of place after the others but, as I said, it was a long time ago…_

_Enjoy!_

_Chapter 15_

The team left the house feeling defeated and utterly lost. They had found nothing, not even a strayed cat, in the house.

"Goddamnit." Hotch cursed into the night frustrated. "Where the hell are they? They should be here, damn it." He turned to Rossi angrily as if the older man should have known the answers. Of course, he was just as lost as Hotch himself.

"That is a large lot, Hotch, with many outbuildings." Reid pointed out and in an instant they were on the move.

"Listen up, people!" Hotch shouted determined. "We split up and proceed systematically. I don't want even a single pebble to be left unturned." It was hard to hear him through the loud barking of the dogs but everybody nodded in understanding then proceeded to survey the area. "They have to be here somewhere." Hotch told nobody in particular.

* * *

On the way to the hospital Morgan was looking out of the window absentmindedly. He was so exhausted. A part of him knew that Hotch had been right sending him back to the hospital and he could fully understand the reasoning of Rossi, yet he couldn't help feeling that he was letting Emily down. He knew that he probably couldn't do anything for her but the mere notion of him lying in bed while who knows where Emily was, made him ashamed of himself. Of course it wasn't reasonable…

He could hardly walk but he didn't let the officer go with him into the hospital. That was why he was standing in front of the building. He was gathering his strength to walk.

"Agent Morgan!" He heard somebody call his name and when he turned towards the voice, he could see Detective Johnson sitting in her car. To say that he was surprised would be an understatement.

"Detective Johnson, what are you doing here?"

"Well, if anybody asks, I'm on my way to Peter Hastings' apartment." Morgan furrowed his brows both by pain and confusion. "Come on, Agent Morgan. Hop in! We have other places to be."

* * *

Emily's whole body was trembling with the mixture of pain and exhaustion. The raw skin on her back was burning and the dried blood made her wounds tighten. Her broken ribs made every breath seem like torture from hell. She was staring on the floor with empty eyes, her dark hair veiling her all too pale face.

Peter Hastings was circling around her like a predator circles around its incapacitated prey. Emily couldn't see his face, and she really didn't want to see it but she didn't need to, either. Without the sight of his possessed glassy eyes which were shining with hatred, and without actually seeing the sick smile that played on his lips, Emily knew that, as soon as he was ready to hit her again, he wouldn't stop… not this time. That would be the last round and she was almost looking forward to it.

The boy crouched down in front of the battered woman and jerked her head up, forcing her to look at him.

"You earned it, you bitch…" He spat into Emily's face with malice. "You left my brother for that piece of shit… you are disgusting!" With that he stood up again ready to take revenge for his brother. Emily didn't even bother to make sense of his words; she just closed her eyes and held her breath, hoping for it to end soon…

But the familiar sharp pain never came. She could hear voices in the dark room but she was too tired to pay any special attention to them. She wanted to cry out to the boy to start it already… but no voice could leave her dry throat… not even when she could feel her hands being freed from their restrain and finally Rossi's face came into her line of vision… she just fell into his arms without a sound…

They found her.

* * *

Emily was led out of the basement carefully wrapped up in a blanket. She was in a rather bad shape but she had managed to calm down and finally process the events. She pulled herself together remarkably fast and she insisted on walking on her own two feet. She even went that far to threaten the paramedics if they dared to force her on the stretcher. In spite of her injuries she managed to slowly walk up the stairs and out of the door with JJ on her side.

However, when the fresh night air hit her face, she stopped and took in her surroundings. The dark night was lit up by the numerous vehicles which were flashing in blue and red colors. It gave the scene a somewhat surreal quality. It was strangely comforting for Emily, though. She had never really thought about it before how the victims could feel after such a horrific event when they were led out into a strange and busy crowd of strangers. It really felt comforting.

Her eyes began to dart around the yard frantically then she looked behind her hoping against hope that she would find what she was looking for... who she was looking for.

"Emily? Are you alright?" JJ asked concerned, sensing that her friend was near panicking. "Emily?"

Then she broke into heart wrenching sobs.

JJ took the sobbing woman gently in her arms not to cause her any more pain and tried to sooth her. "Shh… It's alright now. We've got you, Emily." Her calming words were futile as Emily continued crying mumbling some incoherent words into JJ's shoulder. JJ finally managed to take out the words and understanding downed on her. "Oh, no, no, no… Emily… Look at me. Come on. Look at me." She finally managed to make the crying woman raise her head and as she was looking into her eyes, her musing in the hospital came to her mind. She had been right. Those two were not kidding around. They were truly in love. "Emily, Sweetheart, Morgan is not…" She didn't finish her sentence, though, as something caught her attention. A little smile appeared on her face. Well, they shouldn't have thought that Morgan would really go back to the hospital. "Look, there." JJ turned Emily so she could see the man limping towards them.

Well, the scene that followed that moment would never leave JJ's mind. It made her cry and laugh at the same time. Morgan and Emily were so happy to see each other alive and in one piece but their happiness came out as a pair of painful wince as they pressed up to each other in a hug. Emily cried and laughed at the same time while she traced the line of her lover's face with her fingers.

"I thought I'd lost you, Derek." She whispered and leant into the man when he pulled her a little closer and pressed his tearstained cheek into her hair. He let out a deep sigh of relief.

"I'm so sorry, Emily. I should have been able to protect you. I failed you…"

"There was nothing you could have done." She told him silently, burying her face into his chest. "He could have killed you like he had done with the others. I was so scared, Derek…" Here her voice broke and a fresh wave of tears started down her cheek. "… I was so scared of losing you."

"Shh…" Morgan stroked her cheek gently and Emily raised her head to look at him. "I am here. You saved my life, Emily." Though, Emily couldn't really understand what was Morgan talking about regarding her saving his life, she was so grateful for having him right there next to her.

"I love you, Derek. I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Princess." Morgan told him and pulled her close once again. "And Emily..." He added after a little while. "Don't ever forget that what we have together, there is nothing wrong with that… it's beautiful and precious… it's ours, Emily and no one has the right to judge it."

"Um… Guys?" They were interrupted by a quite awkward looking JJ, who was really getting concerned for her friends. "You should really go to the hospital now." The pair nodded and with a final kiss on Emily's forehead, Morgan pulled away. By that time the whole team had gathered around them.

"Hotch, about this…" Morgan began to explain their situation but the unit chief cut him off.

"At that moment I really don't care, Morgan. We will discuss it after both of you are declared healthy and are back in Washington." With that he turned to leave but stopped and turned back to the couple. His stern look was gone and he almost looked… happy. "And Derek… Emily… I am happy for you." A little relieved smile appeared on their faces as they watched Hotch leave.

Emily and Derek were finally ushered to an ambulance by JJ and Rossi who promised that they'd meet up with the couple in the hospital.

Reid lingered for a little longer at the crime scene. He didn't really know what he was waiting for or what he was supposed to do but he was saved from having to make up his mind when he noticed Maggie walking up to him. She had just finished with the CSIs so she was ready to leave… and she didn't plan on leaving alone.

"Well, I think that your friends have enough company for the night…so... what about a peek on the Columbian night life? We have quite a few things to celebrate." She smiled up at Reid.

"I don't really know, Maggie…" Reid looked adorably awkward. "…you know I'm not really an outgoing person."

"Well, we can always stay in… in my apartment?" Maggie suggested and grinned when saw Reid blushing. "Come on, Genius Boy…" She grabbed Reid's hand, not really waiting for any kind of answer, and started to pull the reluctant boy towards her car. "…you have to live." She stopped and turned back to the boy with a seductive look. "And I can just show you one hell of a good time." With a last wink at the young agent, Maggie got into the car and gave him a beaming smile after Reid finally joined her. He still looked tense somewhat but now it was more due to the fact that he had to sit through a driving with Maggie behind the wheel than anything else. He actually looked forward to spending some time with the young woman…

**THE END**

_Thank you for reading… and thanks for your patience!_


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